I mean it’s a bit more complex obviously, e. g. it’s highly medicalized, you need a “gender identity disorder” diagnosis to legally transition and GAS in order to change your legal gender, but on the other hand HRT and GAS are state subsidized among other rights and protections specific to trans people.
In general, it’s not that Iran recognizes “trans people”. There is no (officially allowed) trans identity. Medical and surgical transition is allowed as a way to “smooth a flaw” and assimilate into cishet-normative society. It is often applied as a way of state-sponsored conversion therapy: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/world/middleeast/iran-transgender-surgery.html
I’m sorry what exactly has changed since then, on a systemic level?
Yeah the US trying to pinkwash their war efforts has certainly made the situation for LGBTQ people more difficult, but that’s not a phenomenon unique to Iran. It’s the same in Russia, large parts of Africa, West asia and I think latin america as well. If the nation hostile to you (like e.g. bombing schools while they’re in session) is also loudly proclaiming they want more gay rights, the knee-jerk reaction is that this must be a hostile act aimed at dismantling your society as well. That’s one of the ways how capitalists divide society into different identities and pit them against eachother.
Iran has better trans rights than the US does…
You serious?
I mean it’s a bit more complex obviously, e. g. it’s highly medicalized, you need a “gender identity disorder” diagnosis to legally transition and GAS in order to change your legal gender, but on the other hand HRT and GAS are state subsidized among other rights and protections specific to trans people.
see here for more https://outrightinternational.org/sites/default/files/2022-10/OutRightTransReport.pdf
Your source is a decade old. The situation has deteriorated in practice after the 2022 protests, with the regime seeing trans people as connecting with the broader Western lgbtq+ movement and so “importing harmful ideas”. Source from last year: https://uprdoc.ohchr.org/uprweb/downloadfile.aspx?filename=13540&file=EnglishTranslation
In general, it’s not that Iran recognizes “trans people”. There is no (officially allowed) trans identity. Medical and surgical transition is allowed as a way to “smooth a flaw” and assimilate into cishet-normative society. It is often applied as a way of state-sponsored conversion therapy: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/world/middleeast/iran-transgender-surgery.html
I’m sorry what exactly has changed since then, on a systemic level?
Yeah the US trying to pinkwash their war efforts has certainly made the situation for LGBTQ people more difficult, but that’s not a phenomenon unique to Iran. It’s the same in Russia, large parts of Africa, West asia and I think latin america as well. If the nation hostile to you (like e.g. bombing schools while they’re in session) is also loudly proclaiming they want more gay rights, the knee-jerk reaction is that this must be a hostile act aimed at dismantling your society as well. That’s one of the ways how capitalists divide society into different identities and pit them against eachother.