Gender Identity Experiences of Transgender People in the Context of the Right to the City: Pakistan–Lahore, Istanbul Comparison

This master’s thesis analyzes the everyday life experiences of transgender people in Istanbul and Lahore through the framework of the right to the city and international human rights standards. In the study, the everydaylife experiences of transgender people living in Istanbul and Lahore were analyzed through the areas of rights in the city in the light of the literature on the right to the city by utilizing the norms in international human rights legislation and the indicators created from these norms. The compatibility of people's life experiences with norms and standards has given an idea about how the human rights of transgender people are embodied at the urban scale. Taking into account the socio-cultural differences of the two cities, the differences in local trans activism, and the differences in the legislation on transgender people at the national level, the research made inferences about the daily life experiences of transgender people in the context of the right to the city and showed that there are similarities in the obstacles transgender people face in accessing rights and services and the discrimination they are subjected to at the city level. In the study, which also includes the demands of transgender people regarding rights violations, it is concluded that the developments realized at the constitutional level for the protection of the rights of transgender people in Pakistan are insufficient in practice, while in Turkey, transgender people continue to be invisible both in daily life and in legislation.