Portal:Transgender/Selected biography/20
Maryam Khatoonpour Molkara (Persian: مریم خاتون ملکآرا; 1950–2012) was an Iranian transgender rights activist, and she was widely recognized as a matriarch of the transgender community in Iran. Designated male at birth, she was later instrumental in obtaining a letter which acted as a fatwa enabling sex reassignment surgery to exist as part of a legal framework. Molkara became the first transgender person in Iran to legally undergo sex reassignment surgery with the permission of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.