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Chinese transgender woman sues ex-employer in landmark case

Inkstone

發布於 2019年12月12日13:12 • Qin Chen

A transgender woman in China is suing her former employer in a landmark case that many hope will uphold equal employment rights for sexual minorities.

Earlier this year, shortly after the woman, surnamed Yang, returned to work at a media company from gender-reassignment surgery, she was advised to quit. She didn't. Within a month, she was fired.

The woman is suing in the eastern city of Hangzhou under a new legal provision added to Chinese law in December 2018 mandating equal employment rights. Yang is seeking a public apology and modest compensation.

The employer said the woman was fired due to lateness.

Experts say Yang's case is important for Chinese sexual minorities seeking equal rights in the workplace.
Experts say Yang's case is important for Chinese sexual minorities seeking equal rights in the workplace.

Legal experts say Yang's case, which was heard in court last week, has blazed a trail for sexual minorities seeking equal rights in China's workplaces. The case has been widely covered by Chinese journalists and was trending on social media.

"As an attorney who has dealt with similar cases, I was beyond excited to hear this case," Zhu Bao, an attorney at the Beijing-based Dacheng Law Offices, told Inkstone.

Having worked with LGBTQ clients in China for more than four years, Zhu said that regardless of the outcome, the case was going to "encourage many more people to come out and fight for their rights in workplaces and in life."

This is the first time in China that someone from the LGBTQ community has sued under the new equal employment rights provision. Zhu said the landmark case indicated that Chinese law protected sexual minorities from discrimination against their sexuality or gender identity.

"Prior to the 2018 law provision, the court wouldn't be able to try such cases…Put simply, one does not even have a chance to lose their case," added Zhu.

There is a growing acceptance of the LGBT community in China, but stereotypes are still prevalent.
There is a growing acceptance of the LGBT community in China, but stereotypes are still prevalent.

China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 and removed it from the official list of mental disorders four years later. Although there's growing acceptance of sexual minorities in Chinese cities, the public is often unfamiliar with different identities or harbor stereotypes.

Yang told the AFP, "A lot of (people with) traditional ideas still think transgender people are either performers or prostitutes. The law will just be a dead law if nobody uses it."

Duan Rongfeng, a fundraiser for PFLAG China, an LGBTQ rights advocacy group, told Inkstone that even among the more LGBTQ-friendly workplaces, issues related to transgender people were rarely addressed.

"In China, the majority of the more socially progressive companies that are having these conversations are still figuring out how to be more inclusive to their homosexual employees. They have yet to start thinking about the transgender communities."

Duan has worked with a variety of companies in China, including small private companies and large foreign firms, to promote workplace equality.

"We have suggested companies to set up gender-neutral bathrooms. But few have done so. Even among those Fortune 500 companies in China."

The case has been heard and a ruling is expected next year.

Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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