The Taipei High Administrative Court yesterday ruled that transgender men can change their legal gender without undergoing gender-affirming surgery.
This decision can be appealed.
The court handed down a ruling in favor of transgender man Nemo (尼莫), who in 2022 unsuccessfully petitioned for a gender change on his national ID card at the Household Registration Office in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義).
Photo: AP
Together with the legal team of the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, he filed an administrative appeal against the office’s decision the same year.
Hailing the ruling as a victory for transgender rights, the alliance in a news release said the case sets a legal precedent for those who identify as men to change their legal gender without undergoing any medical gender-affirming surgery.
In 2021, the alliance successfully challenged the Household Registration Office in Taoyuan’s Dasi District (大溪) to enable a trans woman identified by the pseudonym “Little E” (小E) to change her registered gender to female.
Nemo has been taking male hormones for many years, but was barred from gender-affirming surgery due to a previous medical procedure, it said.
Gender-affirming operation might pose life-threatening risks to Nemo, the alliance said.
The court should be applauded for acknowledging the unique challenges of each transgender person face and not forcing Nemo to undergo a medical procedure before amending his legal gender, alliance lawyer Hsieh Meng-chao (謝孟釗) said.
The alliance urges the Household Registration Office in Xinyi to stop fighting the court’s judgement and avoid causing unnecessary delay in issuing a new ID for Nemo, she said.
The government should not deny Nemo his gender identity just because he was unable to undergo a gender-affirming surgery, alliance lawyer Neil Pan (潘天慶) said.
Hostility and prejudice against transgender people continue to permeate Taiwanese society, he said, adding that misgendering and other insults are deeply hurtful to people subjected to them.
The court’s decision affirms the principle of human dignity lying at the heart of human rights, which are constitutional rights for all Taiwanese, Pan said.
About 50 nations and territories in the world allow a person to change their legal gender without requiring proof of surgical gender transition and 22 do not require any medical certificates, alliance lawyer Victoria Hsu (許秀雯) said.
An estimated 90 percent of transgender Taiwanese are unable to have IDs matching their gender identity, she said.
These people face insults and discrimination on a daily basis, she added.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS