Editing Cross-dressing (section)

==Legal issues==
In many countries, cross-dressing was illegal under laws that identified it as indecent or immoral. Many such laws were challenged in the late 1900s giving people the right to freedom of gender expression with regard to their clothing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chapter seven: Gender Expression and Cross-dressing |url=https://www.icj.org/sogi-casebook-introduction/chapter-seven-gender-expression-and-cross-dressing/ |access-date=2022-11-14 |website=International Commission of Jurists |language=en-US}}</ref> There still remains 13 UN member states that explicitly criminalize transgender individuals, and there exist even more countries that use a great deal of diverse laws to target them. The third edition of the Trans Legal Mapping Report, done by the [[International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association|International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association]] found that an especially common method to target these individuals is through cross-dressing regulations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Srikanth |first=Anagha |date=2020-09-30 |title=It is still illegal to be transgender in these countries |url=https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/519060-it-is-still-illegal-to-be-transgender-in-these-countries/ |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== North America ===
For instance, from 1840 forward, United States saw state and city laws forbidding people from appearing in public while dressed in clothes not commonly associated with their assigned sex. The goal of this wave of policies was to create a tool that would enforce a normative gender narrative, targeting multiple gender identities across the gender spectrum. With the progression of time, styles, and societal trends, it became even more difficult to draw the line between what was cross-dressing or not. In 2011, it was still possible for a man to get arrested for "impersonating a woman" — a vestige of the 19th century laws.<ref name="pbs.org">{{Cite web |date=2015-05-31 |title=Arresting dress: A timeline of anti-cross-dressing laws in the United States |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/arresting-dress-timeline-anti-cross-dressing-laws-u-s |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=PBS NewsHour |language=en-us |archive-date=2024-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718120857/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/arresting-dress-timeline-anti-cross-dressing-laws-u-s |url-status=live }}</ref> Legal issues surrounding cross-dressing perpetuated all throughout the mid 20th century. During this time period, police would often reference laws that did not exist or laws that have been repealed in order to target the LGBTQ+ community.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ryan |first=Hugh |title=How Dressing in Drag Was Labeled a Crime in the 20th Century |url=https://www.history.com/news/stonewall-riots-lgbtq-drag-three-article-rule |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=HISTORY |date=28 June 2019 |language=en}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=May 2025}}

=== Asia ===
[[Nepal]] decriminalized cross-dressing in 2007.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonblade.com/2024/04/22/out-in-the-world-lgbtq-news-from-europe-and-asia-21/,%20https://www.washingtonblade.com/2024/04/22/out-in-the-world-lgbtq-news-from-europe-and-asia-21/|title=Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia|first=Rob|last=Salerno|date=April 22, 2024|website=www.washingtonblade.com|access-date=April 24, 2024|archive-date=July 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718121101/https://www.washingtonblade.com/2024/04/22/out-in-the-world-lgbtq-news-from-europe-and-asia-21/|url-status=live}}</ref> Only in 2014 did an appeal court in Malaysia finally overturn a state law prohibiting Muslim men from cross-dressing as women.<ref name="pbs.org"/>

=== Oceania ===
In the Australian state of Tasmania, cross-dressing in public was made a criminal offence in 1935, and this law was only repealed in 2000.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Delaney |first1=Martine |title=How Tasmania is going from worst to best on transgender human rights |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/08/how-tasmania-is-going-from-worst-to-best-on-transgender-human-rights |work=The Guardian |date=8 April 2019 |access-date=15 June 2023 |archive-date=4 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504185844/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/08/how-tasmania-is-going-from-worst-to-best-on-transgender-human-rights |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Evening Cross-Dressing Legal in Tasmania |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82131&page=1 |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref>