Hong Kong court backs transgender person's right to use toilets that match chosen gender identity
HONG KONG (Reuters) -A Hong Kong court ruled on Wednesday in favour of a transgender person who challenged laws that criminalise them for going into public toilets that align with their chosen gender identity.
Judge Russell Coleman struck down the two provisions that made it criminal to do so but suspended the ruling for 12 months to let the government "consider whether it wishes to implement a way to deal with the contravention".
The Hong Kong government did not immediately respond.
"This is a matter of the line-drawing, which seems to me to be a question for the government or legislature to address," Coleman wrote in his judgment.
He also said the question of where to draw the line between a "female person" and a "male person" is "an answer not appropriately given by the courts, and is more appropriately a matter for legislation".
The legal challenge was launched by a transgender man, who identifies as K, born as a female and identifies as a man, and who sought to amend the Public Conveniences (Conduct and Behaviour) Regulations to allow individuals undergoing Real Life Experience (RLE) treatment under medical supervision to use public toilets that align with their gender identity.
This is the latest ruling from the city's judiciary in recent years that recognises the rights of transgender people.
The city's Court of Final Appeal in February 2023 unanimously sided with appeals launched by transgender activists that barred transgender people from changing their gender on their mandatory ID cards unless they undergo full sex reassignment surgery, saying it violated their rights.
The Hong Kong government last April revised the policy and allowed transgender people who have not completed full sex reassignment surgery to change gender on their ID cards.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
21 minutes ago
- Washington Post
U.S. and China likely to extend trade truce to delay sky-high tariffs
The United States and China are set to begin their third round of trade talks in as many months on Monday, their latest bid to tamp down a tariff war that risks upending global supply chains and further straining relations between the world's two largest economic powers. The two-day talks, headed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, are taking place in Stockholm and come ahead of the Aug. 12 deadline for both countries to make progress toward a deal or return to astronomically high tariffs.
New York Times
21 minutes ago
- New York Times
America Needs to Take Better Care of Its Military
For 12 days in June, the United States teetered on the edge of yet another war in the Middle East. We seem to have avoided the worst for now, but there is a chance that fighting between Israel and Iran could resume — especially if diplomatic efforts to restrain Iran's nuclear ambitions fail. And pressure on President Trump from prominent interventionist Republican policymakers remains to support a regime change operation against Iran, which also risks reigniting the conflict. At the same time, the threat of war with China looms large. China continues to rapidly expand its Navy and build capabilities that would enable it to seize Taiwan if it so chooses. We are now less than 18 months away from 2027, the year that Admiral Phil Davidson, a former commander of the military Indo-Pacific Command, once said China could be able to seize Taiwan through force. A war with nuclear-armed China would be several orders of magnitude more dangerous than a war with Iran. Regardless, the United States still must be prepared to wage a major conflict. And while there is no doubt that the U.S. military remains the most powerful and capable fighting force in the world, it is suffering from systemic challenges in a critical component of warfighting success: personnel readiness. Even on the modern high-tech battlefield, war is still a people business. For the Department of Defense, this means it must care for its people along with developing its weapons in order to maintain lethality while also creating an environment that incentivizes Americans to continue to serve. When service members and their families cannot rely on the programs that are intended to ensure their quality of life, it distracts them from their duties, which inevitably limits their effectiveness in combat. A critical challenge the second Trump administration inherited is the state of the Military Health System. The system is responsible for caring for over nine million uniformed service members, military families, retirees and contractors around the world, while also providing care for wounded service members at home. But the system has been declining, and budgets for military hospitals have fallen by nearly 12 percent since 2015. As a result, its ability to provide adequate care to these groups and support the Defense Department in a major military conflict has become severely compromised. Military treatment facilities currently face a global maintenance backlog exceeding $10 billion, which has led many M.H.S. hospitals to fall into disrepair. The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside of Washington, D.C., which routinely treats presidents and members of Congress, had to evacuate several clinics earlier this year, owing to burst pipes that resulted from delayed maintenance. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Bloomberg
21 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Philippines' Marcos Pushes More Social Programs, Jobs After Election Setback
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the recent midterm elections showed the public's discontent over issues ranging from poverty to power cuts, pledging to do more to create jobs and attract investment in the last three years of his single six-year term. 'If only data will be the basis, the economy is doing well. Inflation has slowed down and employment has increased,' Marcos said in his annual State of the Nation address to Congress on Monday. 'But this is irrelevant if Filipinos are suffering.'
