Transgender recognition in Hong Kong up for public consultation
Paper by government working group invites views on eligibility criteria and other considerations
A long-awaited public consultation on whether transgender people should be legally recognised in Hong Kong finally got under way on Friday, but it did not touch on same-sex marriage or other related issues.
The consultation, to run until October 31, was conducted by a cross-departmental working group led by Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung.
The group was set up in 2014 after a landmark Court of Final Appeal ruling in 2013 granted a male-to-female transgender person, known as W, the right to wed her boyfriend. The court told officials to consider how to address problems facing transgender people by taking reference from overseas laws and practices.
“We stress that ... we are not dealing with issues of same-sex marriage or questions of discrimination [against sexual minorities],” Yuen said. “Those issues, we recognise, are important. But we also recognise that they are controversial and fall within the portfolio of other government departments or bureaus.”
The justice minister added that the final decision on gender recognition would not be completely based on public views.