"Would you have prayed as a woman or as a man, if you had been in my place?": The relationship between transsexual individuals' experiences of being transsexual and their religious experiences

Transsexuality is one of the research areas that is not talked about much in Turkey because it contains many discussions within itself. It would not be wrong to say that this issue, which has been discussed and problematized with different views from all over the world, has been ignored despite the fact that it affects people from many walks of life in Turkey. Most of the studies in the field are carried out from a certain point of view. In particular, perspectives and approaches in societies with different religious, cultural and moral values, as well as subjects and experiences are ignored. In order to contribute to social studies, conflicts and solution proposals in this field, taking into account the context of Turkey, it is important to investigate the relationship between transgender individuals' experiences of being transgender and their religious experiences. The fieldwork of this research was conducted using semi-structured in-depth interviews, focus group interviews and participant observation methods with individuals who define themselves or their experience as transgender. As a result of the research, it has been found that Muslim transsexuals exist as a social reality, and they are made invisible by some LGBTIQ+s because they are Muslims and by some conservative Muslims because they are transsexuals due to the socio-cultural structure of Turkey. However, it has been found that individuals do not give up constructing their own identities from a religious framework due to their cultural and religious contexts, that they produce their religious practices in an original way in this context, and that it is a misconception that a transgender individual is automatically considered non-religious.