Malawian transman: Ridiculed, discriminated against, and denied treatment.
(This text is a lightly edited excerpt from CEDEP’s Human Rights Violations Report for Q4/2020. Cindy is not his real name)
Cindy is a transman from Lilongwe. In April 2020 he realised that he had vaginal warts and he rushed to the hospital to be treated. But when it was his turn to get treatment, he was met by a nurse who started laughing upon seeing him.
She went out and came back again with another nurse. The first nurse whispered to her friend saying, “look at her and the way she is dressed; she doesn’t even look like normal or like a woman”.
Cindy is a cross-dresser and usually wears men’s clothes and no make-up.
The nurses laughed and started telling Cindy that he should not put-on men’s clothes. The nurse told him that they can see a girl in him no matter how hard he pretends to be a man.
Denied treatment
They told Cindy that they cannot treat him at their hospital since they are afraid of being affected with corona virus because the homosexuals have caused the pandemic on earth by attempting God’s fury with their sinful and disgusting act.
Chased out of the hospital
They told him to come again when he has properly dressed as a woman with some make up and not looking like a man and he will be treated. They chased him out of the hospital room in a shameful way and he never responded but just left and went home without even getting any treatment.
Ever since then Cindy finds it hard to go to the hospital to get treatment as he does not want to recall what happened on that day.