Hong Kong transgender activist mounts new legal challenge over ID card rules
Henry Edward Tse seeks to challenge allegedly unlawful requirements for transgender residents using their preferred sex on ID cards
A Hong Kong activist behind a court battle for transgender rights has initiated a fresh legal challenge over being required to observe an array of allegedly unlawful requirements to continue using his preferred sex on identification documents.
Tse’s lawyers also called for a statutory scheme to ensure the recognition of transgender individuals, arguing that the government’s failure to allow for the legal recognition of his acquired gender violated his rights to privacy and equality.
In February 2023, the 34-year-old activist and an anonymous applicant won a high-profile challenge at the Court of Final Appeal after they complained against being barred from changing the sex designation on their Hong Kong identity cards without undergoing full reassignment surgery.
The top court found that the commissioner of registration, a role filled by the director of immigration, had violated the two transgender men’s privacy rights under the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights.
But the top appeal court’s five presiding judges stressed that the change of status on the identity card would not affect the legal status of the cardholder’s sex at birth.