A judge in Hong Kong on Wednesday ruled in favor of a trans man who challenged China’s special administrative district over laws that ban trans people from using public bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

The ruling was only a partial victory for the plaintiff and the Hong Kong transgender community, however.

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Trans activists outraged over Hong Kong’s new policies for changing gender on IDs
The policies were supposed to make the path easier, but they remain strict and discriminatory.

The plaintiff, identified as K in court documents, sought to amend local Public Conveniences regulations to allow trans individuals to use public bathrooms that align with their gender identities.

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Judge Russell Coleman struck down the two provisions that make doing so criminal, but suspended his ruling for 12 months to allow the government to “consider whether it wishes to implement a way to deal with the contravention,” Reuters reports.

“This is a matter of the line-drawing, which seems to me to be a question for the government or legislature to address,” Coleman wrote in the ruling.

The judge also identified the answer of where to draw the line between a “female person” and a “male person” as “not appropriately given by the courts” and “more appropriately a matter for legislation.”

Following the ruling, Hong Kong’s Environment and Ecology Bureau said the government will study the judgment and consult with the Department of Justice on what action it will take in response.

That response could be influenced by a court ruling in 2023 that reduced, but did not eliminate, barriers for trans people seeking to change the gender marker on their official government documents.

In what was considered a landmark victory at the time, Hong Kong’s highest court ruled that gender-affirming surgery should not be required before trans individuals can legally change their gender on identity cards, calling the requirement an “unacceptably harsh burden.”

The court said the rules created “confusion or embarrassment” for those who present as a gender that conflicts with the biological sex on their identity documents.

The former rules required the removal of internal reproductive organs and the construction of a penis or “some form of a penis” for trans men, and the removal of the penis and testes and the construction of a vagina for trans women.

But under the new rules, implemented after the court’s decision, trans men still require top surgery, and trans women are still required to remove male genitalia before a gender marker change is granted.

Trans people are also required to legally declare they suffer from gender dysphoria and provide proof of two years of hormone therapy and lived experience in their gender identity. They’re also subject to random blood tests to confirm their transition status.

“I worry that the policy will continue to affect transgenders’ decisions and even induce them to receive medical services that will bring risks and complications but are deemed unnecessary to them personally,” trans activist Zephyrus Tsang told the South China Morning Post at the time.

Given the Hong Kong government’s previous over-promising on transgender rights, the same requirements could be imposed on trans people seeking to use a bathroom in the special administrative district that aligns with their gender identity.

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