End Forced Sterilization of Trans People in Taiwan

On June 11, 2026, the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled entirely in favor of Mickey (pseudonym), a transgender man, holding that he may change his legal gender registration without submitting proof of genital surgery. This marks Taiwan's 12th full court victory allowing a transgender person to legally change their gender marker without proof of genital removal surgery, once again affirming that mandatory surgery as a prerequisite for legal gender recognition violates the constitutional rights to personality, gender self-determination, and human dignity.

Following the judgment, Mickey rushed to complete the gender marker change on his identification documents before the end of July. For him, this was far more than updating an ID card—it marked the completion of an important chapter of his life.

Two years earlier, in July, Mickey joined the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR, hereinafter "TAPCPR") as a social worker. At the time, he felt ready to face his own life experiences and hoped to support other transgender people through similar journeys. Completing the ID change now represents not only the end of one journey, but also the beginning of another.

• "You Don't Actually Need to Explain All This" — What Transgender People Need Is Respect, Not Proof

Reflecting on the litigation, Mickey said the most memorable moment occurred during the hearing, when Judge Kuo Ming-Li carefully listened to his life story and instructed the court clerk to record, word for word, how Mickey had known since childhood that he was male, how he had lived according to his gender identity, and how carrying an identification card that did not match his gender identity repeatedly forced him to explain himself and involuntarily come out to strangers while seeking employment, accessing healthcare, and completing administrative procedures.

After Mickey finished telling his story, Judge Kuo remarked:

"Actually, you don't need to explain all of this. Recently we had an exchange with judges from Belgium. In their country, changing one's legal gender simply requires submitting a declaration to the civil registry. People don't have to lay bare their life stories to prove themselves. Everything you've described is simply a normal part of life."

Mickey recalled falling silent at that moment.

"It was the first time someone wasn't asking me to prove who I was, but instead telling me that I didn't need to prove anything. Those words made me feel that I wasn't standing there to be judged—I was genuinely understood and respected."

Mickey emphasized that what transgender people truly need is not more evidence to prove themselves, but a legal system willing to trust individuals and respect their right to gender self-determination.

• Completing the ID Change Is Not the Finish Line

Although he has finally received new identification documents, Mickey described his emotions as bittersweet.

The new ID card brings an end to years of being repeatedly forced to come out. Yet as a social worker, he continues supporting many transgender people who are still walking the same difficult path.

"I was fortunate to encounter a judge who was willing to listen and understand me. But I know not everyone has that opportunity. Many others are still waiting through lengthy legal proceedings. Some cannot even begin litigation because of financial hardship, family circumstances, or other barriers."

Mickey added:

"I hope that one day transgender people will no longer have to repeatedly prove who they are. A person's gender identity should not be determined by surgery, nor should it have to be earned through litigation. I look forward to a future where no one has to expose the most private parts of their life, as I did, simply to obtain an ID card that reflects who they truly are."

• Attorney Pan Tien-Ching: The Ministry of the Interior Should Bear State Liability for Refusing to Correct an Unlawful Administrative Directive

Mickey's attorney, Pan Tien-Ching, stated that this judgment continues a consistent line of recent Administrative Court decisions.

The Court reaffirmed that gender identity lies at the core of the constitutional protections for human dignity, the free development of personality, and personality rights under Article 22 of the Constitution. Every individual has the right to determine their own gender identity, and that right deserves full legal and constitutional protection.

Requiring surgery as a precondition for changing one's legal gender lacks any statutory basis and violates the principles of proportionality, equality, and legal reservation, thereby imposing an unlawful restriction on fundamental rights.

Attorney Pan noted that Taiwan's Administrative Courts have repeatedly emphasized the importance of protecting the right to gender self-determination, and that the relevant legal principles are already well established. Nevertheless, the Ministry of the Interior continues to require transgender people to submit proof of surgery when applying to change their legal gender.

During the proceedings, when questioned by the Court about why it continued to disregard the consistent position of the Administrative Courts, the Ministry not only shifted responsibility to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, but also ignored the legal reasoning established by the Supreme Administrative Court in Judgment No. 558 of 2021 (110-Shang-558), continuing to argue that Taiwan's household registration system records "biological sex."

Attorney Pan criticized the Ministry of the Interior, as the authority responsible for household registration, for repeatedly failing to review and amend unlawful administrative measures despite the judiciary's consistent findings. This prolonged inaction has left transgender people in a state of ongoing rights violations, undermining both their human dignity and their right to gender self-determination, while forcing them to resort to litigation time and again simply to obtain the legal protections they are already entitled to. The government, he argued, should therefore bear state compensation liability for the harm suffered by transgender citizens.

• Five Years of Advocacy, Fourteen Court Victories: TAPCPR Calls on the Government to Stop Making People Pay for Their Rights

Since 2019, TAPCPR has pursued strategic litigation and public advocacy calling on the government to abolish the mandatory surgery requirement for legal gender recognition and to protect transgender people's right to gender self-determination.

Following the first court victory in 2021, Taiwan had accumulated at least 14 full victories as of July 31, 2026. During this same period, both the Control Yuan and international human rights experts have clearly concluded that the current system subjects transgender people to unnecessary bodily harm and unjustified restrictions on their rights, and have urged the government to revise the relevant regulations without delay.

Despite mounting international pressure and an increasingly clear and consistent judicial consensus, administrative authorities have remained inactive over the past five years. As a result, transgender people continue to spend enormous amounts of time, money, and emotional energy pursuing litigation or undergoing surgery in order to secure fundamental rights that should already be guaranteed.

TAPCPR strongly condemns the government's inaction and its failure to adequately protect people's fundamental rights. We urge the Ministry of the Interior to abolish the mandatory surgery requirement as soon as possible, demonstrate genuine commitment to correcting this longstanding injustice, and ensure that no more transgender people are forced to endure costly and exhausting legal battles simply to have their rights recognized.

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• Refusing to Disappear: Standing Firm for Taiwan’s Identity on the International Stage 

Additionally, there's one more thing we'd like to share with our donors.

Recently, GlobalGiving unilaterally decided to relabel the location designation of Taiwanese organizations from "Taiwan" to "Chinese Taipei." Upon receiving the notification, TAPCPR immediately contacted several leading organizations with fundraising projects on the platform and joined a joint statement issued to GlobalGiving's Board of Directors on May 23, 2026. This joint action protested the platform's capitulation to pressure from the Chinese regime and its unilateral alteration of Taiwan’s regional name—an act that directly contradicts GlobalGiving’s declared core values of equity, inclusion, and supporting local communities.

Here is the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights’ (TAPCPR) statement on the GlobalGiving relabeling incident:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CRA-1q43smPHvjx71Ka3D-18DdTVm1wNtelmXnIpObM/edit?usp=sharing