Taiwanese LGBTQ+ rights advocate Chi Chia-wei (祁家威) yesterday filed a complaint at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office against Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳), stating that a requirement that transgender people provide proof of gender-affirming surgery and a psychiatric diagnosis to change their legal gender infringes upon their human rights.
The Ministry of the Interior’s administrative interpretation requiring surgery is unconstitutional, but the ministry has not taken active steps to amend it, Chi said.
Control Yuan member Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) had previously planned to issue a corrective measure to the ministry following an investigation, although the Control Yuan ultimately downgraded it to a recommendation for review and improvement, he said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
It was a “superficial outcome” and a “dereliction of duty,” Chi Chia-wei said.
The ministry continues to cite a 2008 administrative interpretation to require proof of gender-affirming surgery and two diagnoses from psychiatric specialists to change legal gender markers, he said.
At the time, no countries allowed transgender people to change their status without surgery, making the original ruling “understandable,” he said.
However, Argentina in 2012 became the first country to no longer require proof of surgery, and as of this year, 50 countries have 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 allowing surgery-free gender change is not a difficult feat,” Chi Chia-wei said.
Among the 37 countries that allow same-sex marriage and the legal change of gender markers, Taiwan is the only country that still requires proof of surgery, he said.
He added that he hopes the ministry can follow international practice as soon as possible.
The Control Yuan on Nov. 20 approved Chi Hui-jung’s report and said that the ministry’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 expressed hope that the Executive Yuan and the ministry 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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