LGBT Rights in Malaysia - Gender Identity/expression

Gender Identity/expression

See also: Legal aspects of transsexualism

Cross-dressing is not technically a crime. However, transgender individuals have often been arrested by police officers under the civil laws governing "public indecency", and if they are Muslim, can be further charged by religious officers under Sharia Laws for "impersonating" women. For example, in 1998, forty-five Muslim transvestites were charged and convicted in court for dressing as women, and twenty-three more transgender persons faced similar fines and imprisonment in 1999. In 2012, a court upheld the ban on Muslims born male wearing women’s clothes. The High Court in Seremban rejected a bid by four Muslim transsexuals who were born male to declare the Shariah law unconstitutional.

It has been estimated that a large number of transgender persons are forced to work on the streets as commercial sex workers to earn a living.

Read more about this topic:  LGBT Rights In Malaysia

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