Without Vodka.

semasahin:

Transsexuals in Iran

In 1976, the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, imposed a fatwa to allow people with hormonal disorders to change sex if they wished, as well as change their birth certificates.

Last year, 70 transsexuals were registered at the Khomenei Relief Center, a non-governmental organization that loans money to transsexuals to help them pay for surgery and to provide psychological assistance.

Athena, 20, and Milad, 30, are one of many transsexuals in Iran. The pair, who met three years ago at the center, became good friends as a result of undergoing the same life experience.

Milad, a 30-year-old transsexual in conservative Iran, at home with his family. Milad underwent 23 operations to become a man.

Athena, a 20-year-old transsexual in conservative Iran. As a young boy, Athena used to play with her mother’s dresses and enjoyed wearing makeup. But he was badly treated by his father, afraid that his son was homosexual, which is illegal in Islamic culture. Two years ago, Athena became a she.

(Source: ontd-political.livejournal.com)

semasahin:

Kaifeng Jews (Chinese Jews)

The Kaifeng Jews are members of a small Jewish community that has existed in Kaifeng, in the Henan province of China, for hundreds of years. Jews in modern China have traditionally called themselves Youtai (Chinese: 犹太; pinyin: Yóutài, from Judah) in Mandarin Chinese which is also the predominant contemporary Chinese language term for Jews in general. However, the community was known by their Han Chinese neighbors as adherents of Tiaojinjiao (Chinese: 挑筋教; pinyin: Tiāojīnjiào), meaning, loosely, the religion which removes the sinew (a reference to kashrut, see also Genesis 32:32).