Matters of Gender Identity

By: Hermione So

Matters of Gender Identity

5 Hang Ming Street

Hong Kong

14 September 2022

Public Complaints Office

of the Legislative Council Secretariat

Legislative Council Complex

1 Legislative Council Road

Central

Hong Kong

Dear Madam,

I am writing today to bring your attention to the policies and guidelines associated with discrimination based on gender identity.

The affirmation that a transgender person can only change the sex entry on their identity card if they undergo full sex reassignment surgery was set on the 15 February 2019. This policy caused many in distress as it offers numerous barriers to a transgender.

Firstly, the process of having gonad removal surgery and undergoing external genitalia construction in order to change the gender markers on HKID cards not only costs a huge amount of money, but additionally suggests that individuals must have surgery in order to be legally recognised as the gender they actually are. Furthermore, this creates great anxiety as a result of having to decide between undergoing a procedure they may not desire and not being accepted for their real gender.

Secondly, transgender and non-binary individuals find it challenging to choose which restroom to use. Transgender people should be given the option of using a gender-neutral restroom or a sex-segregated one, but sadly, this is not the case. They are required to risk being accused of using the restroom for the "opposite sex". It is reported some have been subjected to verbal abuse, physical violence, and even sexual assault when attempting to use bathrooms that match their self-identified gender.

Lastly, more than 75% of transgender people in Hong Kong are known to have thought about suicide, and more than half claim to have experienced prejudice in a variety of settings, including job, education, and others. Moreover, upon passing through immigration, more than 40% received unfavourable treatment. The city must provide better mental health resources and training on gender issues for service providers in order to support the population. Further needs to be done to raise awareness on these issues and combat stigma against the population.

Could I please ask you to look through these matters.

I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Hermione So

soh15@rchk.edu.hk