LGBTQ+ rights advocates today launched a petition to abolish a rule requiring transgender people to show proof of genital surgery to change their legal gender, requesting the government to act immediately.
According to Ministry of the Interior regulations instated in 2008, transgender people need to submit two letters from a psychiatrist and a certificate showing they had genital gender-affirming surgery to change their legal gender.
The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR) has repeatedly called these regulations unconstitutional and has filed lawsuits on behalf of transgender people seeking to change their legal gender.
Photo: CNA
The alliance in a news conference today announced a public petition to abolish the mandatory surgery requirement, calling on all those who support transgender rights to speak out together.
Human rights experts have repeatedly said that surgery should not be a requirement to change legal gender, TAPCPR secretary-general Chien Chih-chieh (簡至潔) said, citing a 2014 ruling from the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
There have already been seven court rulings in Taiwan stating that surgery is not required, showing that the ministry’s regulations may be unconstitutional and illegal, Chien said.
Despite these rulings, administrative authorities have only said they would wait for legislation without committing to a timeline, TAPCPR lawyer Victoria Hsu (許秀雯) said.
“Human rights cannot be delayed even for a moment,” Hsu said.
The ministry should first withdraw the regulations and then provide temporary measures for transgender people to change their legal gender, while also accelerating legislative action, she said.
National Taiwan University professor Chang Hsiao-hung (張小虹) said that requiring surgery to change one’s legal gender is a form of state violence based on reinforcing the gender binary.
The petition was initiated by leaders from law, sociology, medicine, social work and religious communities, and brings together activists from the human rights, gender, law, healthcare, education, labor and sex work fields, Chien said.
This cross-sector collaboration shows broad social consensus on abolishing the surgery requirement, Chien said, requesting that the government act immediately to meet public demand.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
China Airlines Ltd (CAL) yesterday morning joined SkyTeam’s Aviation Challenge for the fourth time, operating a demonstration flight for “net zero carbon emissions” from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Bangkok. The flight used sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a ratio of up to 40 percent, the highest proportion CAL has achieved to date, the nation’s largest carrier said. Since April, SAF has become available to Taiwanese international carriers at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kaohsiung International Airport and Taoyuan airport. In previous challenges, CAL operated “net zero carbon emission flights” to Singapore and Japan. At a ceremony at Taoyuan airport, China Airlines chief sustainability
RSS