She wins a historic trial. In China, a trans woman filed a complaint against a hospital that imposed conversion therapy on her without her consent. In 2022, after her parents objected to her gender identity, artist Ling’er was admitted to a hospital in Qinhuangdao City. Diagnosed as having a “discordant sexual orientation,” she had undergone seven electroshock sessions over nearly three months.
“It caused serious damage to my body, she told the Guardian. Every time I underwent this treatment, I fainted. I didn’t agree, but I had no choice. The hospital tried to “correct” me, to make me conform to society’s expectations.” Since then, the young woman has suffered from heart problems which require treatment.
The Changli County People’s Court in Qinhuangdao, where the case was tried, approved awarding record compensation of 60,000 yuan (about 8,000 euros) to the 28-year-old artist. LGBT+ activists described this judgment, delivered on October 31, as a “victory for transgender rights in China”. While homosexuality was removed from the list of mental illnesses by the Chinese Psychiatric Society in 2001, trans identity is still considered as such.
Living your trans identity in China
According to a report published by Asia Catalyst (an association that promotes the right to health in Asia) in 2014, the number of trans people in China was estimated at nearly four million, but the figures remain rare. Gender changes on official papers are therefore only authorized if the person concerned undergoes a sexual reassignment operation (must be approved by the family in advance) preceded by psychotherapy, then has the change validated by the courts on the basis of ‘a document issued by the hospital, details the Institute of Gender in Geopolitics.
This is a major obstacle to access to operations carried out in good conditions and in safety. Thus, many people resort to self-medication to carry out their sex change themselves. For example, the purchase of medicines on the black market is common, deplores Amnesty International. This dangerous practice, without specific medical monitoring, can have long-term consequences on health.
Health facilities specializing in gender-related care are rare. In China, there is only one multidisciplinary clinic, located in Beijing, which offers a range of specialized care in this area. “China does not meet the needs of transgender people, observe Doriane Lau, China researcher at Amnesty International. Many of them, given discriminatory laws and policies, believe that the only options they have are to risk their lives by performing extremely dangerous operations on themselves and to obtain unsafe hormonal treatments on the spot. black market.”
Source: www.slate.fr
