Many Iranians are fleeing their home country due to harsh laws against gays and lesbians forcing them to complete gender reassignment or face the consequence: death, BBC reported.
Iranian law punishes homosexuality by death and it is impossible to live openly as a gay man or woman, according to BBC.
In a twist, Clerics believe it is possible for someone to be born in the wrong body, or being trapped in a body of the wrong sex, BBC reported.
By law, a gay man or woman is not "forced" to have reassignment surgery, but those living in Iran say the pressure is immense, according to BBC.
In the 1980's a fatwa was issued allowing transgender surgery, and since then the country has made a habit of forcing gays and lesbians into surgery, when many are not transgender, many more of which who don't even know the difference .
The Iranian government declare they will help with any cost or medical needs in order for the person to get the surgery, and even offer the person a guaranteed better integrated life in their communities, but that is not often the case, BBC reported.
The homosexual community is being pressured into gender reassignment surgeries by the government and medical officials alike, who tell the gay or lesbian person they are sick and need treatment, according to BBC.
Medical treatments are offered in order to change the person's sex, but little or no information is truly given to the person.
Marie, 37, grew up as a boy but was confused about her sexuality, according to BBC. Doctors declared she was 98% female.
"The doctor told me that with the surgery he could change the 2% male features in me to female features, but he could not change the 98% female features to be male," Marie said, BBC reported.
After going through hormone therapy, Marie said she felt the most feminine in her life, according to BBC.
"It made me feel good. I felt beautiful. I felt more attractive to the kinds of partners I used to have," Marie said, BBC reported. That all changed after the doctors offered to change her two percent male into female.
"Before the surgery people who saw me would say, 'He's so girly, he's so feminine,'" Marie told BBC. "After the operation whenever I wanted to feel like a woman, or behave like a woman, everybody would say, 'She looks like a man, she's manly.' It did not help reduce my problems. On the contrary, it increased my problems."
The gay and lesbian people in Iran are not informed on the difference of transgender, gay and lesbian, BBC reported. Since 2006, the amount of transgender surgeries on file have jumped from 170 to 370 a year, but some doctors say the numbers could be much higher.
