Transgender rights activists yesterday said that reforms on gender reassignment regulations might require legislative action, amid speculation that current reforms aimed at revising an administrative order issued by the Ministry of the Interior will not succeed.
Prospects are unclear on whether the ministry would finalize its decision by Sunday — as promised by Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) last month — following furious opposition from transgender activists over a new draft proposed by the ministry last week.
The controversial draft would bar married applicants or those with children from changing their registered gender and would limit gender reassignment to once in a lifetime.
Transgender and transsexual activists said the rules infringed on the rights of many middle-aged people who wish to legally change their gender despite having gone through marriage or having children.
TG Butterfly Garden spokesperson Quinton Kao (高旭寬), a female-to-male transsexual, said that suggestions to adopt a legislative path were made during a meeting at the ministry on Friday.
He said that it was “highly unlikely” that the issue would be resolved by its proposed deadline on Sunday, adding that a legislative path could take several years.
Household Registration deputy director Jair Lan-pin (翟蘭萍) said the ministry is still compiling the suggestions of different government agencies on the issue and is set to receive their written reports by tomorrow.
She said that a legislative path toward reform on gender reassignment regulations was “an option.”
On Dec. 25, the ministry agreed to terminate a controversial requirement for the surgical removal of gender-specific organs before a person can apply for gender reassignment, and promised to devise new regulations within one month.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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