Abstract
＜Abstract＞ This paper ethnographically examines the relationship between the Khawaja Sara community and LGBTQA+ discourses in contemporary Pakistan. In recent years, alongside the expansion of legal protections for sexual minorities and the growing influence of international human rights movements, Khawaja Sara have increasingly been described as “transgender” or as part of the broader LGBTQA+ community. However, Khawaja Sara self-understandings do not necessarily correspond to the LGBTQA+ categories ― lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ― that were largely developed in Western contexts. Drawing on participant observation and interviews conducted by the author across Pakistan between 2011 and 2025, this article explores how the Khawaja Sara community has received, translated, and reworked global LGBTQA+ discourses. It focuses on three questions: (1) how Khawaja Sara understand themselves; (2) how LGBTQA+ discourses entered Khawaja Sara communities; and (3) how issues of representation, religion, and resource distribution have been negotiated in the process.
