In Pakistan, homosexuality is punishable by law. However, transgender people (known as khawaja siras) are legally recognized as a third gender and have had a visible cultural role for centuries.
A video circulating on social media has gone viral, showing a public celebration with an exclusively male audience, where transgender performers sing and dance. Something completely normalized at weddings and traditional parties in the country.
The reason? Strict gender segregation makes these spaces exclusively male. And within that social logic, hiring a khawaja sira is culturally accepted.