The Biden administration funded a show about a transgender lawyer in Pakistan to promote “gender equality” and empower women, according to a post from the agency’s Twitter account.
The show goes through the lives of several women in Pakistan, with one of the main characters being a transgender lawyer played by Pakistani actor Muneeb Butt, according to a post from his Twitter account. The United State Agency For International Development (USAID) Pakistan wished a “[h]appy women’s day” to “unsung female champions” by retweeting USAID’s announcement of the show on International Women’s Day, in a March 8 post. (RELATED: Palestinian Group Received Handout From Biden Admin Despite Leaders Cheering For Terrorists: REPORT)
“In Pakistan, USAID produced the #SarERah drama series to promote gender equality & features USAID’s success stories and social inclusion projects,” USAID wrote in a tweet. “The series had significant reach so far — a total of +50M views on digital media.”
Happy women’s day to all our unsung female champions who are contributing and making a difference in their home, office or communities! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 https://t.co/AzFeLNKYUO
— USAID Pakistan (@USAID_Pakistan) March 8, 2023
In one of the episodes, Butt’s transgender character is seen talking about how important it is to get an education and that “books are not biased” against gender.
“Believe me, books never know that the person studying them is a girl, or a boy, or someone from the third gender,” Butt’s character says during a lecture.
Another episode shows Butt’s character as a child, dancing while wearing a veil and lipstick with his brother and mother until his father comes home and accuses the mother of trying to “turn him into something.” The father later talks with the son and asks him if he likes wearing makeup and dressing like a girl, telling him he will love him no matter what his son chooses to be when he grows up.
In the same episode, years later, the family argues after his brother objects to Butt’s character being around his friends and the mother calls Butt’s character an “incomplete child” due to being intersex, saying both he and his father should leave.
Butt said in an interview for Images that he got his arms waxed and eyebrows professionally done to play his character.
“I mean, for this project, no one told me that I have to do this, but I got my arms waxed and eyebrows done for this role,” Butt said. “It’s such a painful process and I’m now able to understand it. When I was getting my eyebrows done, it felt like I was getting operated on.”
USAID/Pakistan Mission Director Reed Aeschliman told the Daily Times that he believed media such as Sar-e-Rah could be an “effective catalyst.”
“Media acts as an effective catalyst for social change,” USAID/Pakistan Mission Director Reed Aeschliman said. “In all societies, media plays a vital role in building perceptions. It serves as a platform to educate, guide and build better understanding.”
USAID and Butt did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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