We Are Different From Gays And Lesbian...

...When it comes to the way some Muslim countries treat us, many countries tolerate us if we have surgery,

Morocco’s transgender belly dancer courts acceptance
Associated Press Published
December 23, 2014

There are references to men affecting the clothes and attitudes of women in the Quran. In countries like Iran and Egypt, while homosexuality is illegal, gender change surgery is allowed, especially for those born hermaphrodites. Cross-dressing is also often found in the entertainment world, and in Turkey one of the most famous singers of classical music was also once a man.

Casablanca, Noor’s [Noor Talbi, Morocco’s most famous belly dancer] hometown, looms large in the history of gender-reassignment operations. From the 1950s to the 1970s it was home to the clinic of George Burou, who revolutionized the science of turning men into women, including British model April Ashley and French cabaret dancer Coccinelle.

But acceptance has it limits…

“Gender nonconformity is entertaining ... as long as it’s safely confined to a stage or TV screen, not something you meet on the street,” warned Scott Long, a rights activist with long experience in the Middle East. “Social prejudice against people who don’t conform to gender norms is very strong.”

I remember way back in the probably the late seventies, either Time or Newsweek ran an article about “sex changes” in Casablanca where they were one of the few places in the world where you could get Gender Conforming  Surgery. I bought a copy and I thought that the store clerk “knew” just why I was buying the magazine!

But it is not easy going,

Noor admits that as she breaks taboos, wows audiences and endures obstinate government officials, the struggle is hard, and she yearns for that final official acceptance. The topic of her 10-year battle to get her gender change officially recognized on her state ID card still incenses her.

“A little piece of paper that’s just 4 cm (1.5 inches), is this going to make me a real woman? I am 1.85 meters of woman and my body explodes with femininity,” she said.

It seems like she is only tolerated only because she is an entertainer.