Social Exclusion and Mental Health Issues of Transgender Community in Lahore City

Abstract

Marginalisation, social exclusion, and stigmatisation are major issues restricting the transgender community from living normally. This marginalised group suffers more in a developing country like Pakistan, where a vast majority lives below the poverty line. The present study aimed to identify social exclusion and mental health issues faced by the transgender community in Pakistan. This is a quantitative study in which data from 300 transgender people were collected from four towns of Lahore city. A questionnaire based on a nominal scale was prepared, and data were analysed using the Chi-square test. The study reported the poor economic, social and psychological state of the transgender community in Lahore city. This group is being discriminated against in almost all sectors of life, and their social issues are not addressed properly, leading to a poor physical and mental health state, which needs to be addressed at micro and macro levels. This study emphasised providing equal opportunities to this segment of society by ensuring their constitutional rights. Moreover, the laws and policies on physical and sexual assaults need to be reviewed to make them more inclusive, not only by specifying men and women but also transgender people.