Statement | A New Milestone for Transgender Rights, Another Breakthrough in Gender Marker Change Registration: Victory in the Hsiao-Na Case

The "Kaohsiung Hsiao-Na Surgical-Exemption Gender Marker Change Case," tried by the Kaohsiung High Administrative Court (hereinafter "KHAC"), was decided today (July 17) at 4:00 PM. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, Hsiao-Na, and ordered the household registration authority to issue a new disposition in accordance with Hsiao-Na's request.

In 2019, an individual in Kaohsiung, Hsiao-Na, applied to the household registration authority for a gender marker change registration, submitting two psychiatric certificates of gender dysphoria, but without submitting proof of having completed sex reassignment surgery. Hsiao-Na contested the requirement in Taiwan that mandates the "submission of proof of completed sex reassignment surgery" during the process of gender marker change registration, arguing that this requirement failed to comply with constitutional fundamental rights. However, citing the existing administrative rulings (ha-shih) issued by the Ministry of the Interior regarding gender registration—which require transgender applicants to undergo "evaluation by two psychiatrists" and "permanent and irreversible removal surgery" before they can change their gender marker registration—the household registration authority rejected Hsiao-Na's request for a gender marker change.

Following Hsiao-Na's administrative appeal and the filing of an administrative lawsuit, the case was once dismissed by the KHAC before being appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court. On September 21, 2023, the Supreme Administrative Court annulled the original judgment and remanded the case back to the KHAC for retrial.

Today, the KHAC rendered its judgment in the Hsiao-Na case, ruling in favor of Hsiao-Na. This represents a clear judicial recognition that transgender individuals have the right to change their household registration gender marker to align with their self-identity without undergoing permanent and irreversible invasive surgery. This victory marks another major breakthrough for transgender rights in Taiwan and provides an important legal reference for future related cases.

In the judgment announced on September 21, 2023, for the original trial of this case, the Supreme Administrative Court explicitly pointed out that an individual's self-gender identity falls within the scope protected by Article 22 of the Constitution, and the state should respect and recognize an individual's right to self-determine their gender, particularly under the premise of not disturbing social order and public interest. The court further held that the Ministry of the Interior's administrative ruling requiring gender reassignment surgery lacked a legal basis and severely infringed upon the applicant's right to bodily autonomy, right to health, human dignity, and personality rights, thus violating the principle of legal reservation and the principle of proportionality.

During the retrial proceedings at the KHAC, Hsiao-Na's litigation agent, Attorney Li Ling-Wei, Director of Jing-Guan Law Firm, provided administrative judgments from other surgical-exemption gender marker change cases in Taiwan as reference and submitted the latest foreign legislative materials to the court. In addition, the court listened to the professional opinions of gender studies expert Professor Ch'en I-Ch'ien and psychiatric expert Dr. Huang Ts'an-Yu. From the perspectives of gender studies and psychiatry, they detailed the predicaments faced by transgender individuals and the importance of changing gender marker registration. Furthermore, during their testimony in court, they solemnly appealed to the court "to no longer allow human rights-violating regulations to continue harming the rights and interests of transgender individuals."

The KHAC ultimately concluded that Article 21 of the Household Registration Act should permit transgender individuals to change their gender marker registration without undergoing surgery, and that the relevant administrative rulings of the Ministry of the Interior should be deemed illegal. This judgment is an important historical victory for the transgender community, securing legal protections of equality and dignity for more people.

This victory is not only the realization of Hsiao-Na's personal rights, but also a major milestone for Taiwan's judiciary in safeguarding gender equality. In addition to calling upon students of gender studies programs in the Kaohsiung area and citizens concerned with gender issues to participate in court observation of the Hsiao-Na case on four occasions during trial sessions, and hosting a transgender rights seminar in Kaohsiung, the Gender Group of the Judicial Reform Foundation will continue to monitor and support the rights and interests of transgender individuals, and invites more groups and individuals concerned with gender human rights to work together to promote the advancement of the rule of law and human rights.

(For more information on "Surgical-Exemption Gender Marker Change": please refer to the "TAPCPR Transgender Equality Station - What is a Surgical-Exemption Gender Marker Change?")

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Press Contacts

• Deputy Executive Director Li Ming-Ju mj@jrf.org.tw
• Advocacy Officer Hsieh Chia-Chen jane@jrf.org.tw