Latest news with #transgender community
South China Morning Post
7 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong authorities may appeal court ruling on opposite-sex public toilet use
Hong Kong authorities have said they will consider appealing against the court's decision to uphold a transgender man's legal challenge against a ban on people using some public toilets designated for the opposite sex. Advertisement A spokesman for the Environment and Ecology Bureau said on Tuesday that the government was studying the judgment handed down the day before and seeking legal opinions, while considering mounting an appeal. 'The establishment of sex-segregated public toilets under the Public Conveniences (Conduct and Behaviour) Regulation aims to protect the privacy and safety of the public when using public toilets, and to reflect social norms and expectations,' the spokesman said. 'This arrangement has been widely accepted by society.' The bureau also reminded residents that they must continue to use public toilets based on the principle of segregation of the sexes at present to avoid running afoul of the law. Advertisement At the centre of contention was the landmark ruling handed down by the High Court that upheld an anonymous litigant's claim that the government violated its constitutional duty to safeguard residents' fundamental rights by criminalising the misuse of public restrooms managed by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department at the expense of the transgender community. The Public Conveniences (Conduct and Behaviour) Regulation, which governs the use of public lavatories managed by the department, bars anyone aged five or above from such facilities allocated to their opposite sex. Offenders can face a fine of up to HK$2,000 (US$255).
South China Morning Post
23-07-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong court rules law on use of opposite-sex public toilets must be struck down
A ruling by a Hong Kong court has ordered that the current ban on individuals' use of some public toilets designated for the opposite sex must be struck down, as a judge partially upheld a legal challenge calling for wider acceptance of transgender people in sex-specific facilities. In the landmark ruling on Wednesday, the High Court upheld an anonymous litigant's claim that the government violated its constitutional duty to safeguard residents' equality and privacy rights by criminalising the misuse of public restrooms managed by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department at the expense of the transgender community. Mr Justice Russell Coleman suspended his judgment for a year to allow the government time to develop a solution, noting that officials might feel content to 'let the criminal offence go'. 'I suppose the view could be taken that, as with other conveniences accessible by the public (but privately managed), there are other offences which can be used to deter and punish improper conduct,' he said in a 51-page judgment. 'This is a matter of line-drawing, which seems to me to be a question for the government or legislature to address.' He also stressed that the court would not judge where the line separating men and women should be drawn in the legal context, as it was a matter for legislation, 'probably in the context of wider or interlinked questions', to make that determination. The government can also file an appeal against the decision within 28 days. Need for an update The applicant, a transgender man identified in court only as 'K', sought a judicial review in 2022 by highlighting a potential breach of local laws if he were found to have entered a public restroom that did not align with the female sex marker on his identity card. The court heard that K held a gender identity letter showing he was undergoing a period of 'real-life experience', during which he sought to live consistently in the adopted gender. The step is generally required in Hong Kong for anyone wishing to proceed to hormonal treatment or sex reassignment surgery. The Public Conveniences (Conduct and Behaviour) Regulation, which governs the use of public lavatories managed by the department, bars anyone aged five or above from such facilities allocated to their opposite sex. Offenders can face a fine of up to HK$2,000 (US$254). The law does not apply to public toilets managed by other government departments and those situated at private premises. The department managed a total of 805 public toilets as of September 2022, with 408, or around half of them, being unisex facilities. Current laws bar residents over the age of five from using public lavatories designated for the opposite sex. Photo: Felix Wong Coleman noted that the law was drafted in the 1960s, when nobody in society would have envisaged a need for change arising from transgender identities. The applicant's counsel argued the regulation should be revised to accommodate holders of such medical certificates so that they could access toilets of the sex they identified with before they were deemed fit to receive treatment. Tim Parker SC, for K, highlighted the mental health challenges faced by the transgender community and said his client would minimise water intake while outdoors to avoid having to go to public toilets and arousing suspicion. Authorities originally resisted the legal bid by highlighting safety and privacy concerns and society's expectation that toilet access be limited in accordance with the users' biological sex. But they pulled back from that position after the Court of Final Appeal delivered a landmark judgment in 2023 affirming transgender people's right against privacy invasion in a case concerning the use of their preferred sex marker on identity cards. Step forward for LGBTQ Hongkongers The present case has created a new battleground for greater legal recognition by the LGBTQ community that has forced the city government to implement piecemeal reforms over the years through legal action. In a statement shared by Daly and Associates, the law firm which served as K's solicitors, the applicant said: 'Today, I and other transgender friends who are still in the process of gender transition can use public toilets openly without fear of being rejected.' 'Hong Kong is another step further in improving its gender-friendly [measures]. Hopefully Hong Kong's judicial system will gradually become more inclusive in the future,' he added. The law firm described the ruling as a 'significant milestone in the advancement of transgender rights in Hong Kong'. 'Transgender individuals in Hong Kong deserve the same dignity, privacy, and equality as everyone else,' Mark Daly, the firm's principal, was quoted as saying. 'The burden of defending basic rights should never fall on those already facing systemic barriers.' He added that it was the government's duty to proactively review discriminatory laws and ensure that public spaces were safe, inclusive, and accessible to all, regardless of gender identity. Quarks HK, a concern group focusing on issues with transgender youth, said the ruling marked a significant milestone in human rights development in Hong Kong. It urged authorities to set up more gender-friendly public facilities and double down on efforts to remove the social stigma attached to transgender people.
National Post
23-07-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Adam Zivo: Canada needs a new LGB movement — without T
Article content The gay movement ultimately proved more successful — largely because homosexuals were better resourced and were, on average, more strategic with their battles and words. In other words: respectability politics worked. As such, the transgender community was eventually absorbed into the gay rights movement as a junior coalition partner in the 1990s, forming the modern LGBT umbrella. Article content Transgender people greatly benefited from this alliance, with gay labour setting the foundation for eventual trans acceptance. There were few downsides for homosexuals at first, because 'LGBTQ' organizations remained cognizant of their needs. But then the United States legalized same-sex marriage and many homosexuals, feeling victorious, drifted away from community activism. Article content In their absence, LGBTQ organizations were entirely co-opted by transgender activism, and the social issues faced by gays and lesbians (e.g. sexualized drug use for men, and intimate partner violence for women) were abandoned in the gutter. Many homosexuals found themselves voiceless, and, worse yet, scorned by the very institutions that were supposed to represent them. Article content Article content Cannibalized from the inside by gender radicalism, the mainstream LGBTQ movement came to insist that biological sex is irrelevant to orientation. Lesbians were advised to enjoy 'girl dick' while gay men were pressured to unlearn their ' genital preferences.' Homosexuals who asserted their sexual boundaries were excommunicated from queer spaces and dating apps while being smeared as bigots. Article content In tandem, vulnerable same-sex attracted youth were pressured into receiving irreversible sex changes under the auspices of 'gender-affirming care,' simply because they exhibited perfectly normal episodes of gender confusion that, in most cases, would have resolved naturally. This homophobic practice of 'transing away the gay' received little scrutiny from mainstream LGBTQ institutions, because the safety of young gays and lesbians apparently matters less than maintaining the myth that all gender dysphoria is indicative of transgenderism. Article content Article content Some gender radicals even began to crusade against gay men in particular. Not only did they normalize using 'cis gay' as a slur, they propagated a revisionist history wherein the participation and impact of gay activists was minimized, if not completely erased. Gay men were told, remarkably, that they owed their rights to 'trans women of colour,' even though this claim has never been remotely true. Article content And throughout all of this, the trans-led 'LGBTQ' movement still found time to alienate the rest of society, too. According to the 2025 Ipsos LGBT+ Pride Report, which uses polling data gathered across 26 countries, support for transgender rights has declined markedly since 2021, with same-sex rights seeing a similar, albeit weaker, softening. Handing over the reins to gender radicals has been demonstrably disastrous — decades of progress risk being undone by the current backlash. Article content In this context, it is imperative that the LGB community seize control of its own destiny. There is no reason for homosexuals to subordinate their interests to transgender activists who so often despise them. Gays and lesbians should not passively sit around while gender radicals sabotage public support for same-sex relationships. Let each community chart its own autonomous paths, as was done decades ago, and if there are opportunities for inter-community co-operation, then that should be explored — but on an equal and limited basis. Article content
South China Morning Post
23-07-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong court orders law on use of opposite-sex public toilets to be struck down
A Hong Kong court has ruled that a law prohibiting individuals from using some public toilets designated for the opposite sex must be struck down, as a judge partially upheld a legal challenge for widening acceptance for transgender people in sex-specific facilities. Advertisement In the landmark ruling on Wednesday, the High Court upheld an anonymous litigant's claim that the government violated its constitutional duty to safeguard residents' equality and privacy rights by criminalising the misuse of public restrooms managed by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department at the expense of the transgender community. Mr Justice Russell Coleman suspended his judgment for a year to allow the government time to come up with an approach, noting that officials might feel content to 'let the criminal offence go'. 'I suppose the view could be taken that, as with other conveniences accessible by the public (but privately managed), there are other offences which can be used to deter and punish improper conduct,' he said in a 51-page judgment. 'This is a matter of line-drawing, which seems to me to be a question for the government or legislature to address.' Advertisement He also stressed that the court would not judge where the line separating men and women should be drawn in the legal context, as it was a matter for legislation, 'probably in the context of wider or interlinked questions'.
