Draft law to define who is transgender is expected to provoke debate

The government is poised to stoke a public debate on whether transgender people unwilling to undergo full sex-change surgery should have the same rights as "post-operative" transsexuals.

On Friday, the Security Bureau published a bill to amend the city's marriage ordinance - the first concrete action taken since last year's landmark Court of Final Appeal ruling granted a male-to-female transgender person known only as W the right to wed her boyfriend.

If passed, the bill would enshrine in law a pre-existing government policy that transgender people must undergo surgery to remove their genitals and construct new ones before they can qualify for legal recognition of their sex reassignment.

"I am surprised they are doing this, because it flies in the face of indications by the city's highest court as to how the matter should be dealt with," said Michael Vidler, lawyer for W.

"The judgment made it clear that Hong Kong's policies should be reviewed with an aim to comply with international human-rights standards, and to use the British Gender Recognition Act as a model," he said. Britain does not require surgery and in 2004 set up a panel of legal and medical experts to hear applications and grant legal recognition on a case-by-case basis.

W's ability to marry her boyfriend would not be affected by the proposed law because she underwent full sex-reassignment surgery in 2008. Others, however, are reluctant to undergo such invasive surgery.