Role Reversal

The LATimes reports how the Islamic Republic of Iran, which prohibits homosexuality upon pain of death, has opened its arms to sex-reassignment surgery. While the former is condemned in the Koran, religious leaders including the late Ayatollah Khomeini view sex changes openmindedly. (Society, and parents, remain decidedly less enthusiastic, of course.) It's an ironic reversal for a deeply conservative culture that is relatively more advanced than many Western societies on the delicate question of transgender rights.