Manama: Police in Kuwait have arrested three cross-dressers as they were dancing to songs played loudly on the radio of their moving car.
The music and the dancing attracted the attention of a traffic police patrol in the commercial Salmiya area in the capital Kuwait City, prompting them to signal to the three “women” to pull over, local daily Al Rai reported on Sunday.
Upon the verification of the papers, the police discovered that the driver and two passengers were in fact men who were wearing women’s dresses.
One of the three had a record of cross-dressing and had been released upon signing a pledge not to wear women’s dresses in public again.
The three were apprehended and referred to the investigation team as a case for cross-dressing was filed against them.
Kuwait prohibits cross-dressing in public and media often report police swoops and court cases against those who break the rules.
In July 2013, a young Kuwaiti cross-dresser was arrested by police after he entered a women-only lingerie shop.
A female shopper, shocked by the presence of a man wearing women’s clothes and heavy make-up, told him to leave the premises, saying he had no right to be there.
However, the cross-dresser objected and insisted he was entitled to be in the shop, located in Salmiya.
A saleswoman had to call the police to end the dispute, and the cross-dresser was eventually apprehended.
Several Kuwaitis have called for allocating special areas, mainly in remote places, for “soft men” where they could wear their make-up and transgender clothes.
