Out & Equal at Work by 36 LGBT Professionals and A...

In 2019, a court in Selangor had convicted 5 men of “attempted sexual intercourse against the order of nature” under section 28 of Selangor’s Syariah (Sharia, or Islamic law) criminal enactment. The same day that Selangor threw the full weight of its religious affairs department behind the pursuit of Nur Sajat, the Federal Court, Malaysia’s highest court, issued a ruling invalidating a state law that criminalized consensual same-sex relations. Its officials frequently insist, as in the case of Sajat, that the laws criminalizing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are intended not primarily to punish, but rather to return them to “the right path.” Malaysia also criminalizes consensual same-sex conduct at both the federal and state levels. It is one of only a handful of countries that explicitly makes gender nonconformity a criminal offense.

The Malaysian government relies on the force of the law to prohibit expression and conduct that fall outside of a heterosexual, cisgender norm. Nur Sajat is a transgender woman, and her plight illustrates the extent to which government authorities in Malaysia are willing to go to enforce the rigid gender roles by which they compel all Malaysians to abide. Malaysian authorities insisted that Sajat need not worry: the massive deployment of law enforcement and diplomatic wrangling to force her back to Malaysia was intended not to “punish” but rather to “educate” her.Īfter a public outcry in her defense, Thailand allowed Sajat to stay in the country under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and eventually to settle in Australia. Months later, when Nur Sajat resurfaced in neighboring Thailand, Malaysia sought her extradition. Selangor’s religious department issued a warrant for her arrest and announced that it had mobilized 122 religious affairs officers to hunt her down. Malaysia’s religious enforcement officials sprang into action. In February 2021, Nur Sajat, a cosmetics entrepreneur, failed to appear in court in the western Malaysian state of Selangor to answer to criminal charges for “insulting Islam” based on her attire.

Out & Equal at Work by 36 LGBT Professionals and A...