A Hong Kong transgender activist yesterday received a new ID card reflecting his gender change, after a yearslong legal battle to change the document, and he vowed to continue working for equality for the LGBTQ+ community.
Henry Tse won his appeal over the government’s refusal to change the gender on his ID card in February last year. Previously, Tse was not able to make the change because he did not undergo full gender-affirmation surgery.
Last year, the territory’s top court said the government’s policy was unconstitutional in a landmark ruling, arguing it imposed an unacceptably harsh burden. The judgement prompted an easing of rules earlier this month.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Tse’s victory is seen as an important step forward for Hong Kong’s LGBTQ+ community, many of whose transgender members consider the operation unnecessary and risky.
After obtaining his new ID card, Tse told reporters that life has not been easy since he lodged a judicial review in 2017. In addition to the legal challenges, he has faced obstacles from the government and attacks from others.
“What is normal for many people has finally become normal for us,” Tse said.
Public sentiment in Hong Kong has become increasingly welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community, but many still face challenges in daily life.
Tse said bank staff told him he did not match his ID card and asked him to resubmit documents. He also could not change the gender on his travel permit to mainland China, which caused him a delay when crossing the border. Immigration officials searched their computer for 15 minutes, he said, before finally letting him enter.
Last month, the Hong Kong government revised its policy 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 treatment for at least two years before applying.
Applicants also have to continue their hormonal treatment and submit blood test reports for random checks upon the government’s request.
Tse, after receiving his new ID card, said he would start changing his other documents, including his passport and bank details. The activist, who was previously active in sports, said he might sign up for a gym membership, too.
“It’s a return to normal life,” he said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home