A lifetime ago, Pakistan had surprised the so-called developed world by passing a landmark transgender rights bill that not only allowed people to choose their transgender identity as they perceived it but even made legislative arrangements for official recognition. On Friday, the Federal Shariah Court revoked some of these progressive provisions catering to gender identity, the right to self-perceived gender identity and the subsequent share in the inheritance as “un-Islamamic.” The speculation with regard to the said threat to the security of women by giving any man (choosing to identify as a transgender woman) access to exclusive spaces was immediately decried as a “blow to the rights of (an) already beleaguered group.” No such instances have yet been recorded. However, the violence they face that starts the minute families abandon transgender children, forcing them to beg on the streets or pursue dancing or prostitution because of societal stigmas in the form of death threats, acid attacks and sexual abuse is an open secret. Conservatively speaking, over 90 members of the transgender community have been killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2015. That the apex court had remarkably argued that the transgender community had the same rights as all other citizens a decade ago has had no effect on the ground reality altogether. Against a handful of key appointments and the government opening doors to the first-ever specialised schools and madrassah, unemployment is rife and discrimination remains just as strong. The cancel culture does not care about who is standing at the other end of the barrel. Prominent activists and internationally-acclaimed cinematic productions have been forced to the fringes just because the masses are not yet ready to accept anything beyond the heterogeneous view. At a time when their very existence continues to suffer from deep-seated prejudices, stripping them away of whatever little standing they have is downright tragic. It would be heartening to see Islamabad living up to international obligations. After all, in the historic words of Martin Luther King, “no one is free until we are all free.” *