Taiwanese Trans Woman Wins Legal Battle for Gender Marker

Taiwanese trans woman Lisbeth Wu finally won her lawsuit after four long years. Now, she can change her gender marker on her legal documentation without having to undergo a sex change operation, also known as “bottom surgery”. 

Wu is a dual citizen of Taiwan and the U.S. and filed this lawsuit back in 2020 when her gender reassignment application was rejected. She applied on November 20, which just so happens to be International Trans Day of Visibility.

This isn’t the first time a Taiwanese trans woman has won her gender reassignment lawsuit. There have been four other cases where trans women and men have won the right to change their gender marker without undergoing surgery. Wu is now the fifth. 

In Taiwan, a person’s constitutional rights cannot be infringed upon unless it’s “necessary” to protect someone else’s due to the Taiwanese Constitution’s proportionality doctrine.

The Taipei High Administrative Court (THAC) ruled that the 2008 Ministry of Interior memo, the major hurdle in Wu’s way, is unconstitutional and not supported by the law.

The memo mandates that trans people must get two mental health assessments and proof of surgery in order to change one’s gender on legal documentation.

Queer rights in Taiwan are growing significantly over the years following the major milestone of being the first Asian country to legalize same-gender marriage in 2019.

Their 21st-annual Pride parade is reportedly the largest in East Asian history, hosting over 180,000 people.

In the wake of the THAC’s ruling, the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR) calls for the government to reform its legal gender reassignment proceedings.

TAPCPR writes in a statement, “Administrative agencies should stop being lazy, change unconstitutional and illegal interpretations as soon as possible and give transgender citizens the right to gender autonomy. We congratulate (Lisbeth), who can finally have her gender identity recognized by law in the land she loves and live the way she wants!”