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RTHK
7 days ago
- Politics
- RTHK
High Court strikes down law on opposite-sex toilets
High Court strikes down law on opposite-sex toilets The High Court ruling allows the government time to come up with a way to respond to the decision. File photo: RTHK A High Court judge has ordered a law prohibiting people from using public toilets designated for the opposite sex to be struck down, ruling in favour of a transgender man who challenged the city's public convenience regulations. In a landmark ruling on Wednesday, judge Russell Coleman said "drawing the line" of a person's biological sex at birth creates a disproportionate and unnecessary intrusion into privacy and equality rights, and contravenes articles of the Basic Law and Hong Kong Bill of Rights. However, Coleman suspended his order for a year to give the government time to come up with an approach, noting that officials might feel content to "let the criminal offence go". "I suppose the view could be taken that, as with other conveniences accessible by the public (but privately managed), there are other offences which can be used to deter and punish improper conduct," he wrote in a 51-page judgement. "This is a matter of the line-drawing, which seems to me to be a question for the government or legislature to address." Coleman also said it would not be appropriate for the courts to judge where to draw the line between a "female person" and a "male person", as it was a matter for legislation, "probably in the context of wider or inter-linked questions". The legal bid was filed by a transgender man identified only as "K", who sought to amend the wording of the Public Conveniences (Conduct and Behaviour) Regulation, which bans people aged five or above from facilities allocated to their opposite sex. At the time of bringing the application, K held a gender identity letter showing he was undergoing a period of "real-life experience", during which he sought to live consistently in his adopted gender. The court heard that the applicant pressed for changes to the regulation, to let transgender people diagnosed with gender dysphoria and having a medical need to undergo "real-life experience" access public toilets corresponding to their identified gender. The government had argued that public toilet access rules protect other users' rights, including privacy and security, as well as societal expectations.
South China Morning Post
28-04-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong transgender activist mounts new legal challenge over ID card rules
A Hong Kong activist behind a court battle for transgender rights has initiated a fresh legal challenge over being required to observe an array of allegedly unlawful requirements to continue using his preferred gender on identification documents. Advertisement In a written judicial review application seen by the Post on Monday, Henry Edward Tse's lawyers argued that the Immigration Department's new regulations regarding the alteration of identity cards' gender category remained legally flawed despite a landmark ruling that called for a policy change. Tse's lawyers also called for a statutory scheme to ensure the recognition of transgender individuals, arguing that the government's failure to allow for the legal recognition of Tse's acquired gender violated his rights to privacy and equality. In February 2023, the 34-year-old activist and an anonymous applicant won a high-profile challenge at the Court of Final Appeal after they complained against being barred from changing the gender markers on their Hong Kong ID cards without undergoing full reassignment surgery. The top court found that the commissioner of registration, a role filled by the director of immigration, had violated the two transgender men's privacy rights under the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights. Advertisement But the top appeal court's five presiding judges stressed that the change of status on the identity card would not affect the legal status of the cardholder's gender at birth.
