Karachi Pakistan 8th march 2021, aurat march at Frere hall Karachi on International women's Day, play cards in hand

In an effort to increase protection for trans people, a Pakistani business has launched a ride-share service that will be available only to women and trans people.

Called SheDrives, the service was launched last weekend and seeks to protect trans people from discrimination and harassment, says Ammaz Farooqi, the company’s chief executive.

It currently operates only in the second-largest city of Lahore, but Farooqi said that expansion is possible.

Pakistan is a conservative and predominantly Muslim, transgender individuals face high levels of discrimination and even violence such as sexual abuse, assault, and murder. It is common for trans Pakistanis not to enroll in regular schools in an attempt to escape discrimination.

Gay sex is illegal in Pakistan and punishable by up to two years in prison, though it rarely is. Queerness is looked down upon, which makes being openly trans or gay difficult.

It is estimated that Lahore is home to around 30,000 transgender people, with organizations advocating for their welfare estimating the transgender population across Pakistan to be about 500,000 out of the country’s population of 240 million.

Farooqi himself is not transgender, but he sees his business as a way to help two marginalized communities: women and trans people.

“I’ve taken a small step, and we may expand this service to other cities,” he said.

He also said that “a unique aspect of this app and ride service is that both drivers and passengers will be women and transgender individuals.”

The vehicles will feature pink logos, making them easily recognizable to women and trans people.

Pakistan recently made the news for anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination when a Pakistani man was forcibly put in a mental hospital for trying to open the country’s first gay club.

Last year in May, Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court (FSC) struck down several provisions of the historic Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act after declaring the statute to be “un-Islamic.” In their ruling, the FSC said that a person cannot change gender based on “innermost feeling” or “self-perceived identity” and must adhere to their sex assigned at birth.