Bill a gross violation of human rights for transgender people

The Legislative Council's public hearing on the Marriage (Amendment) Bill was a clear indictment of Hong Kong's cavalier attitude towards the welfare of transgender persons.

Simply put, no transgender person should be coerced into undergoing sex reassignment surgery for the purpose of obtaining new legal documents. While it is true that this surgery is important and life-saving for some transgender persons, it is simply wrong to treat it as a one-size-fits-all solution, and it is morally indefensible to have the surgery written into law.

A side effect of the surgery is that the recipient will become sterile for the rest of his/her life, and legally required sex reassignment surgery amounts to forced sterilisation. This is an affront to international human rights norms. The UN special rapporteur on torture stated clearly that "the involuntary sterilisation requirement clearly runs counter to the respect for the physical integrity of the person". He also called on governments to "outlaw forced or coerced sterilisation in all circumstances".

In addition, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health has opined that "full surgical sex reassignment that includes removal of gonads and construction of external genitalia is not medically necessary … for all transgender people" and that "social gender recognition is not dependent upon an individual's genital configuration, and forced surgery to modify, reconstruct or otherwise alter intimate body parts should not be a prerequisite for document or record changes".

It is therefore inexplicable why the government is hell-bent in insisting on the inclusion of this surgery in the bill. Is the government saying the well-being of transgender persons doesn't matter? Or is it suggesting that such a gross violation of human rights is acceptable?

It is outrageous and unacceptable that certain politicians, faith and parent groups saw fit to exploit this matter with deliberate misinformation campaigns. Hyperbolic statements about gender and social chaos are fear-mongering. Also, the current issue has nothing to do with same-sex marriage.