Violence against homeless gay and transgender youth in Pakistan – a short report

Abstract

ABSTRACT Violence against youth with diverse sexual and gender identities is an understudied area in Pakistan. This article explores how homeless gay and transgener youth (HGTY) experience multiple forms of violence and how social structural conditions produce contexts for violence against them. This study is based on qualitative interviews with fourteen HGTY, aged 16–25 years old. The interviews suggest that participants experienced multiple forms of violence simultaneously. Social structures like religion, ethnicity, and politics shaped broader cultural intolerance for sexual and/or gender diversity. Not being able to conform to social norms of gender and sexuality not only contributed to violence against participants but shaped their trajectories into homelessness and sex work. The ‘new’ identities of being homeless and being sex workers intersected with their gay and, trans identities, exacerbating their vulnerability. The findings indicate that there is an urgent need for law supportive of sexuality and gender diverse youth to mitigate experiences of violence.