Transgender rights: top Hong Kong court says in landmark ruling government breached rights of 2 trans men by preventing them from changing ID cards
- Case brought by Henry Edward Tse and ‘Q’ in 2019 against commissioner of registration after he refused to review gender status on identity cards
- Ruling means government can no longer impose sex reassignment surgery as a precondition for wider gender recognition
Hong Kong’s top court handed down a landmark ruling on Monday finding that authorities’ refusal to allow two transgender people to use their preferred gender on their identity cards without undergoing full reassignment surgery had breached their rights.
The ruling, the result of a years-long legal battle, meant the government could no longer impose such surgical procedures – often considered risky by the transgender community – as a precondition for wider gender recognition.
“I can live like any other man,” one of the litigants, Henry Edward Tse, a trans man, told the Post after the Court of Final Appeal victory.
But it was not immediately clear what threshold the Immigration Department would adopt for any change of gender on identity cards in the future.
Tse and another trans man, identified as “Q”, filed their case against the commissioner of registration – a role filled by the director of immigration – in 2019, after he refused to review the gender status on their identity cards. Despite having gone through hormonal treatment and having their breasts removed, the pair were told surgery would still be necessary to reconstruct their genitals.
