Three-quarters of transgender people in Hong Kong have considered suicide, Chinese University survey reveals
- Nearly one in 10 say they have fallen victim to physical attacks in public toilets, same proportion report sexual harassment
- Chinese University publishes results from Hong Kong’s biggest survey of transgender people, triggering calls for new anti-discrimination legislation
More than three-quarters of transgender people in Hong Kong have contemplated suicide, while nearly one in 10 report being subjected to physical violence when visiting public toilets, according to the largest survey of its type conducted in the city.
The Chinese University (CUHK) research published on Wednesday also found that 9 per cent of people identifying as transgender said they had experienced sexual harassment.
The findings have renewed calls from scholars, activists and lawyers to introduce for the first time legislation specifically targeting discrimination based on gender identity, ahead of International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia – better known as IDAHO – next Monday.
“Transgender people are among some of the most marginalised even within the LGBT community,” said Suen Yiu-tung, director of the sexualities research programme at CUHK, who headed the survey.
“Legislation against discrimination on the grounds of gender identity is urgently needed,” he wrote in the survey’s recommendations.
Suen said the new survey of 234 transgender people, who were quizzed online between 2019 and 2020, will provide empirical evidence for policy design and legal debates.