Online.WSJ.com – By Yaroslav Trofimov
Cross-Dressing Leila Hopes to Perform Again In Pashtun Theater
Peshawar, Pakistan – In one of the more unexpected outcomes of Pakistan’s election last week, Leila the drag queen scored a big win.
Leila, the stage name of a 30-year-old man named Adel, wasn’t running for office. But the popular dancer had a big stake in the election results in this mountainous province on the Afghan frontier. Voters here last Monday threw out an Islamist administration that had cracked down on the arts.
Eunuchs and cross-dressers have traditionally played an important role in the culture of the Pashtuns, the main ethnic group here in Pakistan’s North-Western Frontier Province, and in the southern half of Afghanistan.