Hong Kong judge rules in favor of transgender bathroom access

HONG KONG AP A Hong Kong judge on Wednesday ruled to strike down regulations criminalizing the use of bathrooms designated for the opposite sex ruling in favor of transgender individuals rights to access population toilets matching their identity Judge Russell Coleman approved the judicial review of K who was born a woman and identifies as a man saying the regulations contravene an article of the city s mini-constitution that stipulates all residents should be equal before the law But he suspended the declaration to strike down the regulations for a year to allow the governing body to consider whether it wishes to implement a way to deal with the contravention He commented in the judgement that the regulations and drawing the line of a person s biological sex at birth create a disproportionate and unnecessary intrusion into the privacy and equality rights The ruling marks another step forward in recognizing the rights of LGBTQ people in the Chinese financial hub In latest years the leadership has revised policies following activists wins in legal challenges At present only children under years old accompanied by an opposite sex adult can enter a populace washroom designated for the opposite sex Those violating the rule face a fine of up to Hong Kong dollars about K launched a legal challenge in seeking to expand the exemption to pre-operative transgender people who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and have a medicinal need to undergo the process of living in their identified gender He argued that his constitutional rights were infringed by the prohibition against him using society toilets allocated for men the court heard In Hong Kong s top court ruled that full sex reassignment surgery should not be a prerequisite for transgender people to have their gender changed on their official identity cards The next year the ruling body revised its strategy to allow people who have not completed full gender-affirmation surgery to change their genders on ID cards as long as they fulfill certain conditions The conditions include the removal of breasts for transgender men the removal of the penis and testes for transgender women and having undergone continuous hormonal healing for at least two years before applying Applicants also have to continue their hormonal rehabilitation and submit blood test reports for random checks upon the ruling body s request In April activist Henry Tse who won the legal battle in and received his new ID card reflecting his gender change last year lodged a fresh legal challenge over the new requirements Source