Trans activist Henry Tse speaks to the media after receiving his new Hong Kong ID card with his gender listed as male, on April 29.James Griffiths/The Globe and Mail
Seven years after he first sued the Hong Kong government and more than a year since the territory’s top court ruled in his favour, trans activist Henry Tse has finally received an official ID card with his gender listed as male.
Mr. Tse, 33, started gender-affirming treatment in 2012 and, five years later, applied to update his HKID, the primary form of identification in Hong Kong, used for everything from libraries to border crossings. But the authorities rejected his application, saying he had not undergone “full sex reassignment surgery” and was therefore ineligible.
Along with two other transgender men, Mr. Tse challenged the decision, taking the case up to Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal, which last February ruled in their favour, saying it was “objectionable in principle to adopt as the criterion for amending a gender marker a requirement of undergoing a highly invasive surgical intervention which may be medically unnecessary.”
Earlier this month, the government issued updated guidelines, and on Monday Mr. Tse – dressed in pink, blue and grey, the colours of the trans pride flag – collected his new ID card from immigration headquarters.
“What is normal for many people has finally become normal for us,” a beaming Mr. Tse said. He said the card holds great significance, not just for him but for other trans people who will soon receive their own updated IDs.
He said he had faced “numerous day-to-day humiliations” as a result of his gender not matching that on his ID, including difficulties with travel, banking and accommodations. At times he has been detained and feared arrest because officers thought his card was fake.
“This judicial marathon has been incredibly difficult,” he said. “In the past seven years, apart from dealing with the government and the court’s multiple obstacles, I’ve also had to deal with opposition, disinformation and attacks from different parties.”
He told The Globe and Mail he hoped his effort had made things easier in Hong Kong for young trans people and vowed to continue to strive “to improve trans equality so that we can all live in a more equitable society and enjoy the freedoms that everyone should have.”
Unlike in Canada, where people can freely apply to change the gender listed on official documents such as a passport without additional requirements, the updated Hong Kong guidelines still impose onerous obligations on trans people.
In order to change the gender listed on their HKID, a person must have gone through “surgical treatment for the purpose of modifying sexual characteristics” – top surgery for a trans man or genital surgery for a trans woman – and have been undergoing hormonal treatment and living as the target gender for at least two years.
The decision in Mr. Tse’s case is one of several progressive rulings by Hong Kong courts on LGBTQ+ issues, including a judgment last September ordering the government to create a new framework to legally recognize same-sex partnerships.
That ruling – which stopped short of mandating full marriage equality – has yet to be implemented, and the government continues to fight rulings by lower courts on issues such as public housing rights for LGBTQ couples.
Mr. Tse said he is disappointed that the government is dragging its feet on such issues and hopes for a more liberal attitude in the future.
“That’s why people, including myself, have all increasingly turned to the courts to seek remedy,” he said.
Yiu Tung Suen, a gender studies professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the authorities are out of step with society. Polling shows that about 60 per cent of people in the territory support marriage equality and more than 70 per cent favour greater protections for LGBTQ people.
There are prominent supporters of LGBTQ rights within the government. When Hong Kong hosted the Gay Games last year – the first Asian city to do so – lawmaker Regina Ip, a member of Hong Kong’s Executive Council, delivered the opening speech.
She said the event demonstrated the city’s “unfailing commitment to protect minority rights and maintain Hong Kong as a vibrant, tolerant and pluralistic society.”
But organizers and activists involved in the Games expressed disappointment that the government was so lacklustre in its support of the event, which faced opposition from social conservatives, including several lawmakers.
Attitudes toward LGBTQ rights have also hardened in China in recent years amid a backlash against what Beijing decries as Western influences. The government is also promoting traditional family norms to tackle slowing birth rates.
LGBTQ issues were typically more strongly supported by pro-democracy politicians in Hong Kong. Since the passage of a draconian national security law in 2020 and changes to the city’s electoral system, no opposition lawmakers have sat in the Hong Kong legislature.
Two of Hong Kong’s most prominent gay activists – former lawmaker Raymond Chan and organizer Jimmy Sham, who launched the case challenging the same-sex marriage ban – are currently facing prosecution under the security law.