The Government has launched a public consultation exercise to seek views on the need to establish a gender recognition scheme and what the plan should include.
The exercise runs until October 31.
There is no legislation in Hong Kong to provide for the recognition of reassigned, acquired or preferred gender of a person.
Government departments and private institutions are not required by law to accept the sex entry on a person's Hong Kong identity card.
Neither is there any mechanism to amend the sex entry on a person’s birth certificate to reflect their reassigned, acquired or preferred gender.
In May 2013 the Court of Final Appeal ruled in W v Registrar of Marriages that a transsexual person who has undergone full sex reassignment surgery should be entitled to marry a person of the opposite sex.
The court observed that the Government should consider how to address problems facing transsexual people by drawing reference to overseas law and practice.
The Inter-departmental Working Group on Gender Recognition, chaired by the Secretary for Justice, was formed in 2014 to follow up the matter.
Following detailed studies on the issue, the working group released the consultation paper today.
Besides whether a gender recognition scheme should be established in Hong Kong, the criteria for determining whether a person is eligible for gender recognition and the procedure for gender recognition are also included in the paper.
Views can be sent by email.
