Bangladesh opens mosque for transgender community
Mymensingh (MNP) – Kicked out of other prayer services, members of Bangladesh’s transgender community have been welcomed at a new mosque in the Muslim-majority nation with the promise of worship without discrimination.
The humble structure — a single-room shed with walls and a roof clad in tin — is a new community hub for the minority, who have enjoyed greater legal and political recognition in recent years but still suffer from entrenched prejudice.
“From now on, no one can deny a transgender from praying in our mosque,” community leader Joyita Tonu said in a speech to the packed congregation.
“No one can mock us,” added the visibly emotional 28-year-old, a white scarf covering her hair.
The mosque near Mymensingh, north of the capital Dhaka on the banks of the Brahmaputra river, was built on land donated by the government after the city’s hijra community were expelled from an established congregation.
“I never dreamt I could pray at a mosque again in my lifetime,” said Sonia, 42, who as a child loved to recite the Koran and studied at an Islamic seminary.
But when she came out as hijra, as transgender women in South Asia are commonly known, she was blocked from praying in a mosque.
