DATELINE: Human Dignity Has No Gender: Rights, Respect, and Justice for All
When Morality Becomes Selective and Humanity Goes Missing.
Peerzada Masarat Shah
A few days ago, I came across a deeply painful reply written by a transgender person who had been facing continuous abuse and trolling. For days, the transgender had been ridiculed, questioned, and humiliated for simply existing in public space. In response, the transgender calmly explained that they earn their livelihood through singing and similar work, and was formally invited to an event—hence the presence there. Nothing illegal. Nothing forced. Nothing hidden. And yet, the outrage followed them, not the act.
This raises an uncomfortable but necessary question: if singing and dancing are socially acceptable at public or private events, why does outrage suddenly erupt when certain people perform the same acts? Why does morality wake up only when the performer does not fit society’s narrow definition of “normal”?
India claims to be the world’s largest democracy, built on constitutional guarantees of equality, dignity, and freedom. These rights are not conditional, nor are they reserved for a select group. Transgender people are not outsiders or intruders in our society; they are citizens, human beings, and holders of the same fundamental rights as anyone else. Respecting their rights is not charity—it is a civic and moral duty.
Ironically, those who shout the loudest about “sin” often remain silent about their own contradictions. If transgender individuals were present at an event and someone found their presence objectionable, then honesty demands consistency. If dancing with them is labeled sinful by some, are those who danced alongside them exempt from responsibility? And what about those who stood there watching, clapping, recording videos, or enjoying the moment—are they innocent spectators or silent participants?
Selective outrage is not morality; it is hypocrisy dressed up as righteousness.
Transgender persons are often spoken about as if they are abstract problems, not flesh-and-blood human beings. In reality, many of them are broken-hearted individuals shaped by rejection, ridicule, and abandonment. Long before society judges their profession, it has already denied them education, employment, safety, and acceptance. When doors are closed everywhere, survival becomes a daily struggle, not a moral debate.
Instead of mocking them, shaming them, or turning them into punching bags for cheap virtue-signaling, society should be asking a more honest question: what forced them into this position in the first place? Was it choice, or was it systemic neglect and cruelty?
Faith, too, is often misused as a weapon against the vulnerable. Yet, those who sincerely follow Islam—or any faith rooted in justice—know that human dignity is sacred. Transgender people, like all of us, are created by the same Almighty Allah. No one has been appointed as the gatekeeper of divine mercy. The Holy Qur’an repeatedly commands believers to stand with truth, uphold justice, and support the oppressed—not to humiliate them or strip them of dignity.
A society is not judged by how it treats its powerful, but by how it treats its weakest. If we truly care about moral values, then the answer lies not in abuse or trolling, but in compassion, reform, and support. Transgender people deserve access to education, dignified employment, healthcare, and social security so that survival does not come at the cost of humiliation.
Financial and social support are not acts of weakness; they are investments in humanity. They allow lives to stabilize, wounds to heal, and dignity to be restored.
We must continue to speak the truth, even when it is uncomfortable. We must stand for what is right, even when it comes at a price. Silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality—it is complicity.
Justice has no gender. Dignity has no conditions. Humanity has no exceptions.
(STRAIGHT TALK COMMUNICATIONS EXCLUSIVE)
