Pakistan’s transgender community recently celebrated the passage of a landmark law recognizing their basic rights. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2017 allowed citizens to determine their own gender identity, as well as banning harassment and discrimination against transgender people by employers, education services, and healthcare providers. Pakistan became one of a handful of nations that provide protections for the minority, known locally in the country as khwaja siras — an umbrella term for members of the “third sex” community. Historically, transgender people have occupied a complicated position in South Asian societies across Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.