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In reply to the discussion: Help me out understand this, DU! Why are we still allies with Saudi Arabia?? [View all]951-Riverside
(7,234 posts)3. Do you know that Iran provides transgender surgery almost free of charge?
but they're considered our enemies.
Although it has some of the strictest laws on sexuality and same-sex relations in the world, Iran also has a reputation for an extremely liberal sex-change operations industry.
According to the BBC, the Iranian regime recently made sexual reassignment even more accessible by announcing that health insurance companies must cover the full cost of sex-change operations, which can cost upward of $3,000.
Iran performs more sex-change operations than any country in the world except for Thailand; the surgery industry has attracted patients from all over the Middle East and as far away as Eastern Europe. Official statistics for 2007 put the number of transsexuals in Iran between 15,000 and 20,000 people, with unofficial estimates suggesting many more -- up to 150,000, the Guardian reports.
According to the BBC, the Iranian regime recently made sexual reassignment even more accessible by announcing that health insurance companies must cover the full cost of sex-change operations, which can cost upward of $3,000.
Iran performs more sex-change operations than any country in the world except for Thailand; the surgery industry has attracted patients from all over the Middle East and as far away as Eastern Europe. Official statistics for 2007 put the number of transsexuals in Iran between 15,000 and 20,000 people, with unofficial estimates suggesting many more -- up to 150,000, the Guardian reports.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/04/iran-sex-change-operation_n_1568604.html
OTOH in Saudi Arabia the only thing you're getting chopped off free of charge is your head if you come out.
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Help me out understand this, DU! Why are we still allies with Saudi Arabia?? [View all]
darkangel218
Nov 2015
OP
They still don't get a pass from me. Maybe it's the 16 yo girls they hang on the public boulevards
trillion
Nov 2015
#34
Looks like the HuffPost writer has a long history of putting out Pro-Iranian propaganda...
951-Riverside
Nov 2015
#54
having spent more than 20 years there - I will say this - As bad as the royal family is - and they
Douglas Carpenter
Nov 2015
#17
most likely the matawa - the "religious police" would be the only cohesive group who could take
Douglas Carpenter
Nov 2015
#19
allies is probably not the best word - machiavellian symbiotic relationship is more the situation
Douglas Carpenter
Nov 2015
#21
It's a hell of a lot more stable now than it would be with a power vacuum. n/t
A HERETIC I AM
Nov 2015
#29
Daesh has carved out a nation sized territory made up of parts of actual nations. Not stable.
Bluenorthwest
Nov 2015
#50
Money. and yes, they are about to behead, crucify, and hang upside down, teenagers who protested
trillion
Nov 2015
#33
Because Saudi Arabia competes with Iran for political dominance in the Middle East
Act_of_Reparation
Nov 2015
#62