From the Shadows: China's Growing Tolerance of Transgender Rights
JILL LEVINE, The Atlantic, AUG 9 2013
http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/08/from-the-shadows-chinas-growing-tolerance-of-transgender-rights/278540/In China, gender reassignment is still a taboo topic, and gender reassignment surgery can be prohibitively expensive and restricted. A 2010 report from the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission on China describes the level of discrimination faced by transgender Chinese citizens:
Transgendered people face serious levels of police harassment in China. The transgendered community also faces particular difficulties in obtaining employment. The Chinese authorities are currently consulting on new rules on gender realignment surgery. In certain aspects these rules fail to meet international standards on individual autonomy and privacy. |
The government implemented guidelines in 2009 for restricting gender reassignment surgery. According to the new guidelines, a person must apply with the police to change the gender on their official registration before undergoing gender reassignment surgery. A person must also live openly as the gender with which they identity for a number of years before the surgery. They cannot have a criminal record, must be over the age of twenty and unmarried, and must have gone through a considerable amount of therapy. The candidate also must tell their immediate family about their plans for surgery.
For many, these guidelines have made the surgery completely unattainable.
