A FORMER transgendered person has warned society not to blindly support and give in to the “extreme” demands of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

Mohd Khariri Mohamad Ramli, who lived as a transgendered woman for 10 years before reverting to his male identity in 2012, said while people should treat the community with love and compassion, they should be cautious of their demands which could erode moral values.

“(They) want to start a business, then do so. But next they will want to marry their boyfriends,” he said a seminar in Penang on the LGBT community.

“What will we be teaching our children in school? Oh, you want to be a transgender? Sure, never mind. HIV, AIDS cases will then rise in Malaysia,” said the Selangor-based teacher and motivational speaker.

Earlier at the seminar today, Islamic Development Department (Jakim) family, social and community development division senior assistant director Mohd Izwan Mohd Yusof said there were some 30,000 transgendered persons in the country, up from 10,000 in 1988.

Khariri said that as a transgender, he had long suffered the prejudice of society, claiming that when he first starting teaching, he was accused of being a paedophile and was often the object of ridicule.

He urged people to show compassion to the LGBT community, adding that he was once so distressed by the prejudice that he had his breasts surgically removed.

“Smile and pray for them. Help them with love, not punish them.”

Khariri said many of his friends had died of AIDS after becoming infected due to having same-sex relations.

“A (transgendered) friend was a sex worker, who tried to prevent AIDS by using multiple condoms when serving clients. In the end, she got AIDS too and died,” he said.

Khariri, 41, who is also popularly known as Cikgu Erin, said he also had to prostitute himself to support his former boyfriend, who was a drug addict, and he had to inject himself with female hormones to look like a woman.

He said that when he changed back to embrace his male identity, Khariri felt that “all I did in the past was rubbish”.

“I realised that I am a man after all, even though I may be ‘lelaki lembut’ (effeminate man),” he said.

“There is no crime being effeminate.” – October 29, 2018.