This Taiwanese Trans Woman Sued The Government For Not Letting Her Change Her Legal Gender And Won
Meet Lisbeth Wu, a Taiwanese trans woman who sued the government for not letting her change her legal gender without undergoing surgery and won.
In a step forward for trans rights, a court in Taiwan has ruled that a transgender woman should be allowed to change her legal gender without undergoing gender-affirming surgery.
Since 2001, people in Taiwan who wish to change their legal gender have to provide evaluations from two psychiatrists, as well as medical documentation confirming they have had their reproductive organs surgically removed.
On November 20, 2020, the Trans Day of Remembrance, 25-year-old engineer Lisbeth Wu applied to change her legal gender, providing two hospital diagnoses of gender dysphoria and a US passport showing her as female.
In her request, she argued that the gender-affirming surgery requirement was unconstitutional and that people should be allowed to change their gender if they had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
When her request was rejected by the court, Wu decided to appeal, becoming the first person to do so in Taiwan.
Wu told Almost that she decided to take up her legal battle because she wanted to speak up for the trans community.
"Trans people should not be forced to have surgery," she said. "Surgery should be a choice for everyone."
Although Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, trans people still face stigma and systemic discrimination.
In Taiwan, 17% of trans people have been rejected from jobs due to their identity, according to 2023 data from LGBTQ rights group, Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association.
This frequently happens as Taiwanese companies require employees to submit their IDs as part of the application process, which forces trans people to have to come out because the gender on their IDs doesn’t match their appearance.
"The gender on our ID cards is a basic protection for transgender people," Wu said.
She explained that when she went to open a bank account, she was asked to provide various supporting documents because she didn’t “look” like the gender on her ID.
"I was asked to show all sorts of documents as 'proof,'" she said. "I showed them everything – from photos from my daily life, to my household registration transcript, to my household certificate, to any and everything I could use to 'prove' I was me, but the bank still refused to let me open an account," she said.
She said she ended up crying on the counter and having to explain what being transgender means, as well as trans history, to the bank before they finally let her open an account.
"It took me six hours. I never thought that it would be so painful to do something as simple as opening a bank account," she added.
Wu said as she was fortunate to have a stable income and the support of her family, she wanted to help those who didn't have the same privileges.
"If someone like me, who is already very eloquent and willing to speak out publicly, has to experience these painful experiences, what about others?" she said.
In addition, many people in Taiwan cannot afford gender-affirming surgery.
Wu said when she consulted a doctor, she discovered that the price of one operation ranged from NT$500,000 (US$15,300) to NT$600,000 (US$18,400).
After four years, Wu finally won her appeal on Aug. 26 and successfully changed her legal gender on Oct. 9.
In the past four years, six other people have also won appeals to change their gender without undergoing surgery.
"[Trans people] just want to be treated as ordinary people," she said, adding that asking someone how they would like to be referred to is a simple yet powerful gesture.
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