Iran is luring trans-identifying tourists from around the world with the promise of cheap sex-change surgeries and luxury lodging in a nation where homosexual conduct is criminalized, and many have fled rather than be forced into such surgeries.
Due to the impact that war and sanctions have had on Iran’s economy, the Islamic Republic is promoting its “expertise” in performing sex-change surgeries, The New York Times reported on Friday.
Iran has performed more sex-change surgeries than other nations after 40 years of forcing its gay or “gender-nonconforming” citizens to undergo operations to alter their bodies, according to the outlet.
A report from an Iranian state news outlet suggests that Iran is hoping to generate over $7 billion annually from medical tourism, touting its expertise in medical fields, including stem-cell therapy and organ transplants.
The country is drawing in foreigners from Australia, the United States, Britain and other countries with Iranian travel tourism companies advertising sex-change surgeries for $12,000 or less, according to the Times.
Sex-change surgeries can cost around $45,000 in the United States and approximately $30,000, according to IranMedTour, a medical tourism facilitator. Some private hospitals advertise sex-change surgeries for $7,000, while other companies advertise the operation at government hospitals for $4,500.
The medical tourism company, IranHealthAgency, reports that the cost of sex-change surgeries in Iran can range from $400 to $10,000 or more, depending on the scope of the surgery.
While Iran is one of the countries with a Muslim majority population that allows sex-change surgeries for trans-identifying individuals, the country has faced allegations for years that it pressures gay or lesbian citizens to undergo such operations.
Jennifer Sey, founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, a clothing brand that advocates against men in women’s sports, declared that “Trans is the new gay conversion therapy” in response to the report about Iran.
“Iran became a ‘pioneer’ in ‘transition’ surgeries so they could trans the gay away in their citizens,” Sey remarked in a Friday X post.
“Gay and gender non conforming Iranians risk the death penalty. Now Iran forces the surgeries on their citizens,” the XX-XY Athletics CEO stated, adding, “This is horrifying.”
Saman Arastu, a trans-identifying Iranian citizen, told The New York Times that the situation for people like her in Iran is “dire.”
Arastu underwent “top and bottom surgeries” to look more like a man. Top surgery typically involves an operation to remove the woman’s breasts or reduce their size. Bottom surgery for women usually involves using skin from other body parts, such as the forearm or thigh, to create male genitalia.
“The goal of these medical tours is probably to portray Iran as a paradise for trans people, which it isn’t,” Arastu stated. “In my opinion, these are nothing but a show.”
In 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed concerns about “severe criminal penalties” for individuals convicted of engaging in same-sex conduct, which the committee noted is “criminalized by the Islamic Penal Code.”
The committee highlighted several punishments enforced by the Islamic State against individuals convicted of engaging in same-sex relations, such as public lashings, floggings and death sentences.
“It remains concerned that State actors frequently harass and detain lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals on the basis of public decency laws and subject such persons to torture and ill-treatment while they are in detention,” the committee’s report states.
“The Committee is also concerned about reports of gay and lesbian Iranians being pressured into undergoing gender reassignment surgery without their free consent,” it added.
Earlier this year, Human Rights Activists News Agency reported on the murder of Sogand Pakdel, a man in his 20s who identified as female, who was shot in the head by his uncle during a family wedding in an alleged honor killing.
Pakdel, who lived in the Iranian city of Shiraz, sometimes spoke out about the trans issue online, according to HRANA. Despite threats from his family, Pakdel insisted on attending his cousin’s wedding, where his uncle greeted him with a warning shot before shooting Pakdel in the head.
The uncle later turned himself in to the police and confessed to the murder, as HRANA reported.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
