Third Sex's got the vote in Bangladesh

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Who'd've thought Bangladesh'd be blazing such a trail?

Hey everyone ~

I was sitting in the doctor's office, flipping thru the Arabic and English newspapers when I cam across an article regarding the upcoming elections in Bangladesh - I found this online, which seems to be from the same source. It seems that although the idea of having people who don't fit either of the two traditionally accepted genders isn't fully mainstream, it seems to be well on its way.... here's the link:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iJs0Rw_hl...

Your thoughts?

YW

Comments

Bangladesh eunuchs

I think the word "eunuch" says it all. Muslim countries have had eunuchs practically forever, and classifying TGs as eunuchs doesn't imply either greater recognition or social approval. It's more a punt by the bureaucracy to handle a touchy situation and move toward including all of the population in elections.

I'll point out that the article makes the common mistake of thinking that Bangladesh is "impoverished." That was true a decade or two ago, but Bangladesh is no longer in the same class as some of the African nations. A really impoverished nation wouldn't be able to do photo IDs of all of its citizens, for example.

That exhausts my rather meager knowledge of the situation, unfortunately.

Xaltatun