A transgender person’s application in 2020 to change the gender on their national identification card, which was rejected, is lawful and should be allowed without the need for gender-
affirming surgery, the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled on Monday.
In ruling in favor of the person, identified only by their surname, Wu (吳), the court ordered the household registration office to accept the application and proceed with the legal gender change.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights via CNA
The court’s ruling can be appealed.
The court said that Wu should be able to change the gender shown on the ID card to female because the application included legally required documents, including a US passport.
Wu, who has dual Taiwan-US nationality, presented two hospital diagnoses of gender dysphoria and a US passport showing her as female when she applied for an ID card change at the Zhongzheng District Household Registration Office in Taipei on Nov. 20, 2020, the court said.
The office rejected the application based on the lack of a diagnosis of a gender-affirming operation, as required under the Ministry of the Interior’s 2008 directive that lists such a diagnosis as a “necessary document,” the court said.
It did not apply the 2008 directive because the directive turns the medical records of individuals undergoing a highly invasive procedure into the only documents deemed necessary to affirm a gender change on an ID card, it said.
That puts an added burden not stipulated in the law on the individual and contravenes the Constitution’s doctrine of proportionality, the court said.
Although the Constitutional Court in 2023 decided not to hear Wu’s case, the administrative court said it was still up to it to determine whether the 2008 directive was constitutional.
Citing a 2021 ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court as the standard in reviewing gender-change applications, Monday’s ruling said that Wu been living as a woman since 2017 fulfilled one of the criteria.
In addition, diagnoses from two different hospitals stated that the confirmation of her legal gender as a woman would help ease symptoms of gender dysphoria, it said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS