"Mouzakarat Randa al-Trans", or "The Memoirs of Randa the Trans", co-written by the Lebanese journalist and the protagonist of his story, Randa – Fouad in her previous life – recounts with brutal honesty what it means to be transsexual in the Middle East. Two rapes, a marriage of convenience, starvation, and the thought of suicide.
All this painful baggage is present, as therapy and catharsis in the book. As well as the death threats suffered in her native Algeria that forced her to leave her home and her son, the result of a marriage of convenience, and take refuge in Beirut.
'The thing was serious. The national security agency had opened a file against her for creating the first Algerian NGO dedicated to LGBT rights – something illegal – and the most radical Islamic groups threatened her life. When she received a ten-day ultimatum, she knew she had no choice but to flee. This is the typical profile that Amnesty International describes as a sexual identity biased crime. LGBT people face particular forms of discrimination and are victims of human rights abuses. If they also take an active role as agents of change, become activists or defend human rights, challenging those who seek to impose discriminatory gender norms, they are persecuted for two reasons: for who they are and for what they do.'
'It was logical for Randa to flee to Lebanon. The image that the country projects is that of being the most tolerant with groups that in other countries of the area are marginalized, even persecuted. For example, the group that leads the LGBT movement in the Arab world, HELEM, has its base of operations in Beirut and has even managed to open some ambient bars in the city. Through this collective Randa is channeling her activism, trying to raise awareness among Lebanese to accept transgender people.'
Available via latimes.com
Post a Comment