CLAIMING HER RIGHT: The woman had won a court case against a Taoyuan district office that cited a 2008 directive asking her to show proof of surgery
Staff writer, with CNAA transgender woman had her gender on her ID card changed after winning a case against her local household registration office for refusing to do so, the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights said yesterday.
Accompanied by the alliance’s lawyers, the woman, who goes by the name “Siao E” (小E), had the gender on her ID card corrected at the Dasi Household Registration Office in Taoyuan on Thursday, three days after the Taipei High Administrative Court said that a Sept. 23 ruling in which it ordered the office to make the change without asking for proof of a sex reassignment surgery had not been appealed, the alliance said in a news release.
The office had denied Siao E’s application to have her gender changed on her ID card in October 2019 citing a Ministry of the Interior directive from 2008.
The directive stipulated that any person applying for a gender change on their ID card would have to provide proof of diagnosis with gender dysphoria and sex reassignment surgery.
Instead of providing the required documents, Siao E submitted certificates issued by two separate psychiatric institutes that said she had a female gender identity.
Siao E took the case to court, resulting in the unprecedented verdict.
The ruling was confirmed on Monday, when the court said that the office had not filed an appeal.
The alliance yesterday hailed the verdict as a milestone.
However, it was an individual case and the conditions might not apply to other cases.
Association lawyer Victoria Hsu (許秀雯) said the government should amend the laws regulating such issues, as there would otherwise be more cases such as that of Siao E.
Association secretary general Chien Chih-chieh (簡至潔) said that as the ruling proved that the nation’s regulations on gender identity issues were archaic and against the Constitution.
In the spirit of humanitarianism and the rule of law, directives that could harm transgender individuals should be amended as soon as possible, Chien said.
The association thanked the court for its “brave” decision, saying that Siao E could have her ID information rectified at the right time — two days before Transgender Day of Remembrance today.
