Requiring transgender people in Taiwan to provide proof of gender-affirming surgery and psychiatric diagnoses to change their legal gender seriously infringes on transgender people’s human rights, Taiwanese LGBTQ+ rights advocate Chi Chia-wei (祁家威) said today.
He filed a misconduct complaint today at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office against Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳).
The Ministry of the Interior’s (MOI) administrative interpretation requiring surgery is unconstitutional, but the ministry has not taken active steps to amend it, he said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Control Yuan member Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) had previously planned to issue a corrective measure to the ministry following an investigation, though the Control Yuan ultimately downgraded it to a recommendation for review and improvement, he said.
It was a “superficial outcome” and “dereliction of duty,” Chi Chia-wei said.
The MOI continues to cite a 2008 administrative interpretation to require proof of gender-affirming bottom surgery and two diagnoses from psychiatric specialists to change legal gender markers, he said.
At the time, no countries worldwide allowed transgender people to change their legal gender without surgery, making the original ruling “understandable,” he said.
However, Argentina was the first country to no longer require proof of surgery in 2012, and by this year, 50 countries worldwide had adopted a similar policy, he said.
In contrast, since the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001, only 40 countries followed suit in 25 years, he said.
“It is clear that surgery-free gender change is not a difficult feat,” Chi said.
Among the 37 countries worldwide that allow same-sex marriage and legal change of gender marker, Taiwan is the only country that still requires proof of surgery, he said.
He added that he hopes the MOI can follow international practice as soon as possible.
On Nov. 20, the Control Yuan approved Chi Hui-jung's investigation report and said that the MOI’s reliance on the 2008 administrative order “violates the principle of legal reservation, the principle of proportionality and the spirit of international conventions, seriously infringing on people’s bodily autonomy and health rights.”
The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights said it sincerely hopes that the Executive Yuan and the MOI would comply with the Control Yuan’s findings and swiftly abolish the mandatory surgery requirement, restoring transgender people’s bodily autonomy and right to determine their gender.
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