London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Emergency response needs cited in defence of Hong Kong’s gender policy for IDs

Emergency response needs cited in defence of Hong Kong’s gender policy for IDs

High Court hears appeal from two transgender men who were denied judicial review of the government’s refusal to amend the sex entry on their Hong Kong identity cards.

Officials have defended a controversial policy limiting gender status changes on Hong Kong identity cards to those who have undergone sex reassignment surgery, arguing there is a need to balance transgender rights against the difficulties faced by both the public and emergency response teams.

“As 9/11 had taught us, emergency situations do sometimes occur,” Monica Carss-Frisk QC said, referring to the September 11
terrorist attacks on the United States and highlighting the potential requirement for segregating sexes during certain major incidents and law enforcement operations.

The counsel for the commissioner of registration was responding to an appeal from two transgender men, Henry Edward Tse and a person identified only as Q, who had been unsuccessful in seeking a judicial review of the government’s refusal to amend their identity cards.

The High Court heard the pair had their breasts removed, received hormonal treatment and lived full-time as men, but retained their uteruses and ovaries and decided against undergoing surgery to construct genitals of the opposite sex.

Under existing policy, the commissioner will only amend the sex entry on the ID if the card holder has had full gender reassignment surgery, unless there is medical proof that person cannot undergo the operation. But the appellants say the requirement is cruel and inhumane.

Their counsel, Dinah Rose QC, had argued that the policy requirement was unconstitutional, adding that the surgery was not “the only workable model”, as described by the lower court, for registration officers to determine applications for amending the sex identifier, as can be seen in the United States, Britain, Austria, South Korea and Singapore.

At the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Carss-Frisk said the commissioner was entitled to focus on the circumstances in Hong Kong, in particular how the identity card was used on a daily basis.

She said that made the situation “significantly different” from the overseas examples, which concerned the sex entry on documents such as birth certificates rather than IDs.

Given the everyday use, the counsel said it was “more likely that the sex entry would have an impact on others”, such as members of public.

Carss-Frisk said the government policy involved two aspects of public interest – one in having a clear and consistent guideline for registration officers and the second being fairness to those members of the public and service providers who came into contact with transgender people who had not gone through full surgery.

Henry Edward Tse failed in his previous bid for a judicial review of the government’s refusal to amend his identity card.


The interactions, according to the government, include a variety of scenarios such as the potential need to segregate the sexes in emergency responses during nuclear attacks, body searches conducted by law enforcement officers, enrolment in single-sex schools, and access to sports, sex-specific public toilets, hospital wards, residential facilities, among others.

“One can readily see the confusion and uncertainties and understand the distress that may arise if there is incongruence between the sex entry on the identity card and the person’s physical appearance,” the counsel continued.

But Mr Justice Aarif Barma questioned if a transgender person would suffer anguish and embarrassment much more frequently than the circumstances mentioned by the government, given the way in which the identity card was used in Hong Kong.

Mr Justice Jeremy Poon Shiu-chor, the chief judge of the High Court, also queried how the officer determined the correctness of the sex entry, given that it was not a question of law involving the conferring of legal status.

Carss-Frisk replied: “The commission’s policy is, of course, that it’s necessary to have full sex reassignment surgery in order for there to be an amendment of the identity card.”

Rose countered that the surgery was not necessary for a full gender transition, adding that the requirement was an arbitrary line, which amounted to a very serious and unjustified interference in the individual’s right to privacy.

“In every one of those situations [mentioned by the government], what matters is social gender,” she continued. “The question is if they’re walking as a man or a woman through the door.”

The court has reserved judgment, after Poon thanked counsel for their assistance in this “very difficult matter”.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×