ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ways that the expression of non-normative genders in the Middle East might be seen as a mechanism for resistance to rigid patriarchal structures. The first openly transsexual figure in the region is from Turkey, named Bulent Ersoy. Maryam Khatoon Molkara petitioned successfully for a similar change in status for transsexuals in the Islamic Republic of Iran. While transsexuals and other gender-queer individuals cannot single-handedly dismantle the heteronormative dichotomous gender system, they do raise a number of unsettling questions for more rigid authoritarian regimes about the fundamental differences between sex and gender, and the relative fixity of these concepts. In both Turkey and Lebanon local organizations in support of the "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender" rights have had some success in advocating for greater openness. In Turkey, Lambda Istanbul was formed in response to a crackdown on homosexuals in the early 1990s.
