Male, female... or transgender? New categories proposed for Hong Kong census
Male, female or transgender? Proposed new questions aim to get real picture of population
New census categories may be introduced in order to collect data on transgender people and those in same-sex relationships or co-habiting.
A gay-rights group welcomed the proposal as a step towards helping formulate equal-opportunity policies.
It follows a ground-breaking court case that allowed a transgender woman to marry, and lawmakers' rejection of a move towards a public debate on a law barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
The proposal to update the census was revealed in a paper submitted to the Legislative Council's panel on financial affairs yesterday and comes after the Census and Statistics Department consulted with government bureaus as well as organisations and academic institutions that use census data.
If the changes go ahead, a third choice of transgender/transsexual will be added under the heading of sex in the bycensus questionnaire. Under marital status, the options for co-habitation and same-sex relationship may be added.