- China has ordered a psychiatric clinic to pay compensation to a gay man who was given electric shocks in an attempt to make him heterosexual. The man, Yang Teng, said a Beijing court had decreed that the Xinyu Piaoxiang clinic would have to pay him 3,500 yuan ($560; £400). The decision has been hailed as a legal milestone by gay rights bodies. Homosexuality has not been classified as a mental illness in China since 2001 but anti-gay prejudice remains common.
- Homosexuality was decriminalized in China in 1997 and declassified as a mental disorder by the Chinese Society of Psychiatry in 2001. But at the same time, the government has restricted LGBTQ activism. Last month, the government released a new regulation banning any display of “abnormal sexual behaviours” online. And in May, authorities abruptly cancelled a planned LGBTQ conference in central China.
- The Chinese public is becoming more accepting of the country’s LGBTQ community. A 2015 poll by WorkForLGBT, a Chinese advocacy group, found that 77 percent of people believe that workplaces should be “welcoming of all, regardless of sexual orientation.”
- Other countries like Ireland and Belarus lack provisions for trans people altogether. In December 2013, the Netherlands passed a law eliminating hormonal therapy or surgical requirements for legal gender changes, but trans people must still apply for a medical document.
- Australia and New Zealand allow people to mark their passports with “X” instead of “M” or “F,” Pakistan recognizes the Khawaja sara as having a “third gender” on identity documents, while Germany and New Zealand allow the gender field on birth certificates to be left blank for later self-determination.
- A Botswana transgender man has won a 10-year battle to be legally recognized as male in a landmark ruling that could boost minority rights in the conservative nation. Botswana High Court last week ordered the government to change the gender marker on the man’s identity card from female to male to respect his constitutional rights. The Botswana High court in Zimbabwe delivered a significant judgement against the Zimbabwean police, for unlawful arrest, detention and malicious prosecution and emotional distress against Ricky Nathanson, a transgender women and activist and awarded, $400,000 as damages.
