The possibility of loosening regulations defining transsexual people is being considered after the Presidential Office’s Human Rights Consultation Committee said a panel of experts would be invited to discuss the feasibility of such a move, the Department of Health said.
During a recent meeting with the committee, a human rights organization proposed that Taiwan follow the US and European countries in loosening regulations so that a person may be legally defined as the gender they identify as.
Bureau of Medical Affairs Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said that previously, those who wished to become transsexual in the eyes of the law had to complete a psychiatric assessment and diagnosis by doctors and a sex-change operation.
In 2008, the regulations were loosened so that as long as a person underwent the surgical removal of their ovaries or penis and testicles, they would be assigned a new gender and begin life as a transsexual, he said. The new proposal would eliminate the need for any such surgery.
The department said it would discuss the proposal.
Some doctors specializing in sex reassignment surgeries have expressed reservations about the proposed measure, saying it could lead to difficulties defining transsexuals.
Plastic surgeon Wang Mao-shan (王茂山) said a female wishing to become a male would have to be injected with androgens after undergoing a sex-change operation. Physically, he would be no different from any other male and there would be no doubts when judging what sex he is. However, should regulations be loosened so that all a transsexual needs is a psychiatric diagnosis, there would be no such clarity over their sex.
Wang said going from being male to female is a much easier surgical process, requiring only one operation and rest for a week.
For a female to change her sex to male, the ovaries, uterus and vagina have to be removed, then they have to undergo phalloplasty and relocation of the urethra to the phallus, Wang said, adding that the entire procedure might take up to a year or more.
Wang said procedures for male-to-female surgeries cost about NT$400,000, and female-to-male surgeries cost about NT$700,000.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
RSS