In Taiwan, the Taipei High Administrative Court blocked a bid by a transgender woman – named “Vivi” in reports – to change the gender on her official documents even without an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
When Vivi applied to change the gender on her ID card in April 2023, she was rejected, with a subsequent administrative appeal against the rejection also denied. This led her to take the matter to court with the help of the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR).
Currently, household registration agencies follow a 2008 directive from the Ministry of the Interior directive that require applicants seeking to change their ID to provide proof that they underwent gender-affirming surgery, as well as two separate diagnoses of gender dysphoria.
In its ruling, the court stated that its decision is aligned with previous Supreme Administrative Court opinions regarding changes to ID cards. All the same, and particular to Vivi’s case, the court also ordered the plaintiff’s Household Registration Office to reconsider her application to change her gender on her ID card, citing the 2008 directive from the Ministry of the Interior.
In a statement released to the media, the TAPCPR considered the court’s ruling as not unexpected, and contains uplifting and disappointing aspects. Particularly, it reaffirmed that judicial agencies believe gender-affirming surgery to be unnecessary when changing gender markers; and yet, the courts continue to frame gender identification in medical terms with the need for a doctor’s endorsement.
For the TAPCPR, medical diagnoses should no longer be a requirement for changing one’s legal gender, with the World Health Organization already de-pathologizing being transgender in 2022.
