LGBT rights advocates on Wednesday launched a petition calling for the elimination of a rule requiring transgender people to provide proof of surgery to change their legal gender.
According to Ministry of the Interior regulations, an applicant must provide certification of diagnosis from two psychiatric specialists, as well as proof of surgery from a qualified medical institution to change their legally designated gender.
More specifically, transgender men must provide proof of having removed their breasts, uterus and overies, while transgender women must have removed their penis and testicles, the rules say.
In honor of International Transgender Day of Visibility, the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights launched a petition calling for the elimination of these requirements.
A transgender client the group is representing on Wednesday appeared in court to challenge the rule, alliance legal team convener Victoria Hsu (許秀雯) said.
Since the client was designated male at birth due to her reproductive characteristics, but identifies as female, if she is to change her legal gender, she would need to remove her genitalia, Hsu said.
However, not every transgender person wishes to undergo surgery, Hsu said, adding that the rule amounts to forced sterilization.
The client sued the ministry, demanding that the surgery requirement be removed, she said, adding that gender identity is a basic human right.
Registering with the government should not depend on methods that grossly infringe on human rights, Hsu said.
This is by no means the first condemnation of the rule, as transgender and human rights organizations have been decrying its immorality for more than a decade, she said.
Aside from seeking recourse in court, the alliance has also launched a petition in the hopes of helping more people understand transgender Taiwanese and their plight, Hsu added.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS