Egyptians with Gender Dysphoria tell their sufferings

CAIRO – 16 August 2018: The term “Gender Dysphoria (GD)” has a misconception in the Egyptian society. People with GD are blamed for a supposed birth defect. It is also very common for parents of those with GD participate in legal and moral crimes to force their children to get married with their assigned sex at birth.

A total of 2,350 cases of divorce and separation were filed in the period between 2016 and 2017, according to data Youm7 obtained from Egypt’s Family Court Complex, because people got married with GD, and their true sexual identity were eventually revealed.


The pre-marriage health check-up is an obligatory procedure in accordance with the Egyptian code. However, most married people do not undergo real medical examinations and forge the results instead, according to most the interviewed cases.

“We were overwhelmed because of wedding preparations. We had no time and just found that many important things should be done before the wedding. Consequently, the differences between me and my fiancé mounted. That is why I have asked for her photos and a copy of her ID to get the pre-marriage health certificate without undergoing any examination,” said Hani M, adding that theoretically speaking the couple should undergo medical tests, yet practically, this does not happen most times.


“I got married to him without undergoing a medical examination... The procedure was done without going to any hospitals,” said another wife, Noha Fawzy, who married in 2016.

As for Ibrahim Metwali, his marriage was “a most painful blow”, adding that such a matter never came into his mind. Meanwhile, his wife said that her family forced her to marry.

“They [her family members] imprisoned me and told me ‘you will die and your secret will be buried with you’,” she said.

“I have lived for 26 years as a woman as it was assigned at birth. But my feelings are masculine. I could not dare tell my mother because she was always rebuking me and beating me. She [his mother] was always refusing my masculine tendency,” said Suheir Khaled in a lawsuit file at a family court.

“They [her family members] imprisoned me when I tried to go to a doctor,” she added. “They forced me to marry Mustafa. Since then, violence escalated and was perpetrated by my husband after I refused to have sex with him. In the beginning, he accused me of having affairs with other men, but when he learned about my condition, he treated me as if I was infected with the plague.”

“He called me a monster”

After being a spinster for 44 years, Saadiya Abdel Moneim was forced to marry a drug addict even though her family was aware of her condition.

“My mother forced me to leave school after I reached puberty, telling me not to disclose my issue. Since then, I’ve been lonely. My siblings lived their own lives and abandoned me in my isolated room talking to myself,” Abdel Moneim said in her lawsuit at a family court in Old Cairo to obtain divorce.

“They [her family members] sold me to a drug addict, even though they were aware that I couldn’t have sex. It was a catastrophe when my husband called me a ‘monster’. He dragged me to a police station to report me and disclose my condition,” she said. “Everyone disowned me, even my siblings refused to help me.”

Hundreds of cases were filed against people with GD in Egypt ‘s court over charges of “cheating and fraud.”

“It is out of our hands… We are victims,” this phrase became a slogan uttered by those who suffer from GD.

Adel Safwan tried to commit suicide several times, but his family succeeded in saving him. Now, his wife is suing him at the Al-Wayli Family Court, calling for her divorce.

“My husband died and I had to marry another man to take care of me and my daughter. But, I married a man [the second husband] without knowing his condition,” said Hamida Naser. “He abandoned me from the first day of our marriage. I learned later that he is a man with gender dysphoria. He looks like me but lives in the body of a man.”

“I suffered psychologically from that problem and was subjected to a medical examination to try and correct it, but my family prevented me and intimidated me by telling me that our relatives wouldn’t accept my condition,” her husband said before the judge.

In a response to a question on whether the people with gender dysphoria have the legal right to annul their marriage with taking all post-divorce rights, lawyer Khaled al-Masry said that in that case the marriage contract will be terminated by a court ruling because sexual pleasure, one of the main conditions in a marriage, does not exist.

If the husband was aware of his wife’s sexual defect before marriage, the contract will not be annulled, he continued. However, the wife has the right to ask for her divorce from her GD spouse even if she was aware of his condition before their marriage, Al-Masry added.

If a wife is physically a female but has masculine tendency, her husband has the right to terminate the marriage contract. However, his legal right turns invalid following the three-year period, the lawyer said. There is a legal difference between terminating the marriage contract and divorce, as the wife has the right to get her post-divorce rights, but if the contract is annulled, she has no rights as the marriage was carried out on “deception.”

On the other hand, a presiding judge, who considers GD-related cases, has the legal right to postpone the trial for a period of time based on medical reports if the defect is seen as “curable”, according to the lawyer. This period of time could last for many years without putting an end to their suffering.