How a Hong Kong ‘genderqueer’ bodybuilder is fighting discrimination – with compassion

Lawyers, activists and community in city think there is still a long way to go for the advancement of LGBT rights

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‘Genderqueer’ bodybuilder Law Siu-fung was born female and competes in women’s events, but he identifies as a man in social settings. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 10:33am, 20 Jan 2018Updated: 12:36pm, 22 Jan 2018

The issue of transgender rights is approaching a watershed moment in Hong Kong. In the High Court, three transgender men are fighting for their right to be legally recognised, as the government faces growing pressure from the Equal Opportunities Commission to drop the requirement for sex reassignment surgery to legally change one’s gender.

But lawyers, activists and members of the transgender community insist there is still a long way to go, despite the 2013 Court of Final Appeal ruling which granted a transgender woman, W, the right to marry her boyfriend – a landmark move for Hong Kong LGBT rights at the time.

Since then, two female transgender tourists have been refused entry at the airport and transgender women have been found to be cruelly detained in male prisons as recently as 2016.

Hong Kong’s transgender community still faces an uphill battle against discrimination

Alarming mental health statistics involving this minority group also echo the struggles they face. Almost two thirds of transgender people in Hong Kong have previously contemplated suicide, while nearly a fifth of them had attempted suicide, according to a 2016 survey conducted by academics such as Dr Suen Yiu-tung of Chinese University’s gender studies programme.

Are Hong Kong’s laws outdated?

It is “extremely difficult” for a transgender person to gain legal recognition in Hong Kong today, according to leading human rights lawyer Michael Vidler, who represented W and the three transgender men in court.

Michael Vidler represented clients from the LGBT community. Photo: Xiaomei Chen