Kuwait's constitutional court has struck down a contentious law long used to criminalize transgender people by forbidding the "imitation of the opposite sex." After weeks of deliberation and years of campaigning by human rights groups, the court ruled that the vague law policing people who dress and behave like the opposite sex was "inconsistent with the constitution's keenness to ensure and preserve personal freedom." The law had set the maximum penalty for cross-dressing at one-year in prison or a fine of $3,300. The decision was hailed as a liberal counterweight to the conservative politics in Kuwait, a Gulf Arab sheikhdom where homosexual relations are criminalized with up to seven years in prison. Amnesty International welcomed the overturning of the penal code's Article 198 as "a major breakthrough" for the rights of transgender people in the region. Similar laws criminalize transgender expression across the conservative Arabian Peninsula. Throughout the Arab world, gay, lesbian and transgender people face legal and social discrimination and other formidable obstacles to living their lives openly.⁠ ⁠ Tap link in bio to continue on @EDGEmedianetwork⁠ ?️‍????⁠ ?: Getty

Kuwait's constitutional court has struck down a contentious law long used to criminalize transgender people by forbidding the "imitation of the opposite sex." After weeks of deliberation and years of campaigning by human rights groups, the court ruled that the vague law policing people who dress and behave like the opposite sex was "inconsistent with the constitution's keenness to ensure and preserve personal freedom." The law had set the maximum penalty for cross-dressing at one-year in prison or a fine of $3,300. The decision was hailed as a liberal counterweight to the conservative politics in Kuwait, a Gulf Arab sheikhdom where homosexual relations are criminalized with up to seven years in prison. Amnesty International welcomed the overturning of the penal code's Article 198 as "a major breakthrough" for the rights of transgender people in the region. Similar laws criminalize transgender expression across the conservative Arabian Peninsula. Throughout the Arab world, gay, lesbian and transgender people face legal and social discrimination and other formidable obstacles to living their lives openly.⁠
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Tap link in bio to continue on @EDGEmedianetwork⁠
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?: Getty