LGBTQ RIGHTS/Court blocks bid to change ID without gender dysphoria diagnosis

Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday blocked a bid by a transgender woman to change her legal gender without an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

The court stated that the ruling against the plaintiff, identified as "Vivi," was in line with previous Supreme Administrative Court opinions regarding changes to ID cards.

However, the court simultaneously ordered the plaintiff's Household Registration Office to reconsider her application to change her gender on her ID card, arguing that a 2008 Ministry of the Interior directive cited by officials for the rejection was unconstitutional.

The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR), which provided pro bono support for Vivi, said that the ruling was not unexpected and presented both uplifting and disappointing aspects.

On the one hand, the ruling reaffirmed that judicial agencies believed a requirement for gender-affirming surgery to be unnecessary and reduced the required medical documentation to a single diagnosis of gender dysphoria, said Victoria Hsu (許秀雯), attorney and co-founder of TAPCPR.

However, it appears the courts are still insistent on framing gender identification in medical terms with the need for a doctor's endorsement, Hsu added.

According to a TAPCPR news release, Vivi was calm when she heard about the ruling, though she expressed discomfort that the court still saw gender identification as a "diagnosis."

Unlike previous cases, Vivi said she had purposefully not sought a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria when applying to change her ID card.

Instead, Viva said, she sought to prove that "social evidence" -- such as letters from her mother and friends, photographs of her daily life and counseling records -- was sufficient to legally change gender.

At oral arguments in July, Vivi said she hoped to present diversity within the transgender community with her test case.

The TAPCPR has argued medical diagnoses should no longer be a requirement for changing one's legal gender, noting that the World Health Organization officially depathologized being transgender in 2022.

Regarding the ruling, Neil Pan (潘天慶), president and attorney of the TAPCPR, interpreted the Supreme Administrative Court's opinion differently from the court, believing that it centered on "stable gender identity" as well as "proportionality" for requirements on ID change.

Vivi applied to change the gender on her ID card in April 2023. When her application was rejected and her administrative appeal against the rejection denied, she took the matter to court with the help of the TAPCPR.

Currently, household registration agencies follow a 2008 Ministry of the Interior directive requiring applicants seeking to change their ID to provide proof that they have undergone gender-affirming surgery as well as two separate diagnoses of gender dysphoria.

In recent years, several people who had not undergone surgery have challenged and won against the administrative agencies.

However, in all these cases, the individuals have still been required to present two separate diagnoses of gender dysphoria.

Vivi and the TAPCPR wanted to push the cause further and open up more possibilities for transgender individuals to receive official recognition through her case.

Therefore, the TAPCPR said it would appeal the ruling and keep fighting for social evidence to be accepted as grounds for changing one's legal gender.