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“Don't Punish Me for Who I “Don’t Punish Me for Who I Am” Systemic Discrimination Against Transgender Women in Lebanon Copyright © 2019 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-64664-009-6 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org SEPTEMBER 2019 ISBN: 978-1-64664-009-6 “Don’t Punish Me for Who I Am” Systemic Discrimination Against Transgender Women in Lebanon Glossary .............................................................................................................................. i Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 Key Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 5 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 6 I. Background ..................................................................................................................... 8 Social Context ......................................................................................................................... 9 Domestic Violence ............................................................................................................ 9 Street Harassment and Social Stigma ............................................................................... 11 Media Treatment of Trans Issues ...................................................................................... 12 Legal Context .......................................................................................................................... 13 Political Context ..................................................................................................................... 16 Trans Women Refugees and Asylum Seekers .................................................................... 16 Crackdown on LGBT Organizing ........................................................................................ 18 II. Security Sector Abuses ................................................................................................. 20 Lebanese Military and Security Forces ............................................................................. 20 Violence by Security and Military Forces in the Streets ............................................................ 21 Violence at Checkpoints: Protector or Perpetrator? .................................................................. 23 Increased Vulnerability of Trans Women Without Connections or Class Privilege ............... 27 Ill-treatment and Torture in Detention Centers ........................................................................ 28 III. Violence by Non-State Actors: “Everywhere Feels Unsafe” ........................................... 39 Impunity and Reluctance to Report Abuse ............................................................................... 41 Double Vulnerability of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Interactions with Security Forces ...... 44 IV. Housing Insecurity ...................................................................................................... 47 Discrimination by Landlords ................................................................................................... 47 Identification as an Obstacle to Housing ................................................................................. 50 Difficulty with Shared Housing and Neighbors ......................................................................... 51 Patterns of Displacement ........................................................................................................ 52 Police Interference with Right to Housing ................................................................................ 53 Inadequate Housing Assistance for Trans Individuals .............................................................. 55 V. Employment Discrimination .......................................................................................... 56 Discrimination in Education .................................................................................................... 57 “We Don’t Hire Faggots” ......................................................................................................... 58 Refugees and Asylum Seekers without Legal Residency Status as an Obstacle to Employment 60 Identification as an Obstacle to Employment .......................................................................... 61 Harassment and Exploitive Work Conditions .......................................................................... 62 Arbitrary Dismissal ................................................................................................................. 67 Sex Work ............................................................................................................................... 69 VI. Access to Health Services ............................................................................................ 73 Physical Health Services ......................................................................................................... 73 Role of Nongovernmental Organizations ................................................................................. 75 Transgender Women Living with HIV........................................................................................ 76 Mental Health Services ........................................................................................................... 76 Gender Affirming Healthcare Services ..................................................................................... 78 VII. Access to Name and Gender Marker Change ............................................................... 80 VIII. Lebanon’s Human Rights Obligations Under International and National Law .............. 84 IX. Full Recommendations ................................................................................................ 88 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ 93 Annex 1: Human Rights Watch Letter to Lebanese Ministry of Interior ............................... 94 Annex 2: Human Rights Watch Letter to Lebanese Ministry of Labor ................................. 99 Annex 3: Human Rights Watch Letter to Lebanese Ministry of Public Health .................... 103 Annex 4: Human Rights Watch Letter to Lebanese Ministry of Justice ............................... 107 Annex 5: Lebanese Ministry of Justice Response to Human Rights Watch ......................... 113 Glossary Biological Sex: Biological classification of bodies as female, male, or other, based on factors such as external sex organs, internal sexual and reproductive organs, hormones, and chromosomes. Cisgender: Denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex. Gay: Synonym in many parts of the world for homosexual; used here to refer to the sexual orientation of a man whose primary sexual and romantic attraction is toward other men. Gender: Social and cultural codes (as opposed to biological sex) used to distinguish between what a society considers “masculine,” “feminine,” or “other” conduct. Gender Affirming Surgery: Surgical procedures that change one’s body to conform to one’s gender identity. These procedures may include “top surgery” (breast augmentation or removal) and “bottom surgery” (altering genitals). Gender Expression: External characteristics and behaviors that societies define as “masculine,” “feminine,” or “other,” including features such as dress, appearance, mannerisms, speech patterns, and social behavior and interactions. Gender Identity: Person’s internal, deeply felt sense of being female or male, both, or something other than female or male. It does not necessarily correspond to the biological sex assigned at birth. Gender Incongruence: Defined by the World Health Organization in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD) as a “marked and persistent incongruence between an individual’s experienced gender and assigned gender.” The latest revision of the International Classification of Diseases, ICD-11, removes “gender identity disorders” from the “mental disorders” section, and instead describes gender incongruence, within a new chapter on conditions related to sexual health. In Lebanon, a diagnosis with gender i incongruence is a necessary step before being eligible for legal gender recognition. Doctors have also used the terms “gender dysphoria” and “gender identity disorder” as a diagnosis. Gender Non-Conforming: Behaving or appearing in ways that do not fully conform to social expectations based on one’s assigned
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