‘My family didn’t accept me, siblings bullied’: Trans starlet Alina Khan makes heartbreaking revelations
Alina Khan, the transgender star of the award-winning film Joyland recently chatted with The Guardian over her journey as a transgender and the ban on the movie in Pakistan. Khan said she was rejected by her family when she came out as trans. “My family did not accept me, but neither did society.” She was told she embarrassed relatives, and her mother was constantly angry with her. “She would tell me not to make exaggerated hand gestures like a woman while talking, to sit like a boy and not be in the company of girls,” said Khan. Her siblings called her khusra – a derogatory term, which was originally used to refer to eunuchs but is also a slur against trans people. But as Khan said: “I had never met a transgender [person] in my life so did not know what they were like.” After she received global appreciation for her work, Khan’s family welcomed her with warmth. “They accepted me finally. They realised that I was not earning by begging or doing sex work,” she said. Joyla...