Activist files complaint against 'unconstitutional' gender-affirming surgery rules

Taipei, Dec. 1 (CNA) Activist Chi Chia-wei (祁家威) said Monday that the Ministry of the Interior's (MOI) continued requirement that transgender people undergo surgery before changing their legal gender in Taiwan violates both the law and fundamental rights.

Chi, a pioneer in Taiwan's gay rights movement, filed a misconduct complaint with the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, accusing Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) of dereliction of duty for failing to amend a policy that courts have already ruled unconstitutional.

In recent years, several people have changed the gender listed on their IDs without surgery after successfully challenging a 2008 MOI administrative interpretation requiring it in court.

Chi told reporters that an investigation by the Control Yuan had once been expected to lead to a corrective measure but was ultimately downgraded to a recommendation for review and improvement. The result, he said, has had limited impact, arguing that the MOI "cannot be awakened" if it "pretends to be asleep."

Chi said the MOI continues to rely on its 2008 interpretation, which required transgender applicants to undergo surgery before changing the gender marker on their ID cards.

While that stance posed no issue at the time when no country allowed gender marker changes without medical procedures, Argentina adopted a no-surgery policy in 2012, and within just 13 years, 50 countries had implemented similar rules by 2025, Chi noted.

By comparison, same-sex marriage -- launched in the Netherlands in 2001 -- had been adopted by 40 countries within 25 years, showing that no-surgery gender marker change is not a difficult reform, Chi said.

Of the 37 countries that both recognize same-sex marriage and allow gender marker changes, 36 do not require surgery, making Taiwan the only jurisdiction in that group still enforcing such a rule, Chi said.

Under the MOI's 2008 interpretation, transgender people must submit two diagnostic certificates from psychiatric specialists and proof of surgery to change their legal gender.

In a Nov. 20 statement, the Control Yuan said the MOI's continued reliance on the 2008 order violates the constitutional requirement of a specific legal basis, the principle of proportionality, and obligations under international conventions. The body said the surgery requirement infringes on bodily and health rights and must be reviewed promptly.

The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR) said it hopes the Executive Yuan and MOI will follow the Control Yuan's conclusions.

Abolishing the surgery requirement, the group said, would "restore bodily autonomy" and gender self-determination for transgender people and end unnecessary suffering.