Watch: Hong Kong Transgender Men Win Appeal over Status Change
Hong Kong's top court ruled on Monday that undergoing full sex reassignment surgery should not be a prerequisite for transgender people to change their gender on their identity cards.
The ruling was in favour of transgender activist, Henry Edward Tse and a person identified as Q, who appealed to the court last month over the government's refusal to change the gender entry on their ID cards based on their decision not to have a full sex reassignment surgery.
Tse and Q were born as biological females but identify themselves as males.
They have had their breasts removed, received hormonal treatments and lived their lives as males with professional support and guidance as well as psychiatric treatment.
Henry Edward Tse welcomed the court judgement.
"Much like myself, many trans folks in Hong Kong, especially my friends who are transmen, have been longing for today's final victory for years. We have been dreaming that, one day, we will no longer be outed by our ID cards," he said as he left court.
The judgment by the Court of Final Appeal will have a far-reaching impact on the LGBTQ community, especially because many of its transgender members consider having the operation unnecessary and risky.
The two went to court because existing government policy only allows biological females to change their official gender on their ID cards if they have removed their uteruses and ovaries and constructed male genitalia.
Only those who cannot undergo the surgical procedures due to medical reasons can be exempted.
Both the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal rejected the applicants' application.
In a judgment made public Monday, the Court of Final Appeal ruled that the government's policy was "disproportionate in its encroachment" upon the rights of the two to gender identity and physical integrity.
The court did not accept that full sex reassignment surgery was the only criterion for amending people's the gender marker on the city's identification card, as different criteria adopted in other jurisdictions were also effective.
The judges also said any administrative issues that usually arise tend to pertain to a transgender person's outward appearance and not the appearance of their genital area, and that leaving the gender marker on their identity card amended "produced greater confusion or embarrassment."
AP Video shot by Alice Fung