Monica Carss-Frisk, This Is An Example Of The Discrimination You Enabled In Hong Kong

British attorney Monica Carss-Frisk was hired by the Hong Kong government to successfully litigate on its behalf in the recent Ms W marriage case.

Hope you're enjoying the money you made on the case and can sleep well at night knowing that you contributed to the continued oppression of transpeople in Hong Kong.

As we marginalized peeps know all too well, court cases we lose have negative consequences and ripple effects that not only affect things locally, but sometimes travel beyond the jurisdiction in which they were litigated. 

STRAP chair Naomi Fontanos recounts on her PinayTG blog a recent trip with Santy Layno to lecture on trans discrimination issues at Hong Kong University at the invitation of Dr. Sam Winter.

After a successful lecture they went out for a drink with Dr. Winter only to be whacked with the same discrimination that they had just lectured about.

Okay Hong Kong, when are you going to stop discriminating against my trans family living there? 


It's ironic they have more rights in mainland China than the so-called freedom loving former British colony and world class city that is now a Chinese Special Administrative Region.. 
 
And thank you, Monica Carss-Frisk, for doing your part to ensure that the discrimination against transpeople in Hong Kong continues.

Hong Kong Trans Marriage Case Update

I posted about the start of a trans marriage case that could impact the Araguz one that will resume August 16.

Post operative transwoman Ms. W is suing for the right to marry her longtime boyfriend. Hong Kong Registrar of Marriages ruled last year that because her birth certificate still lists her as male, she can't despite the fact her identity card lists her as female.

The Hong Kong Marriage Ordinance says marriage can only be a union between a man and a woman. However, mainland China allows transpeople to marry.

On Tuesday Monica Carss-Frisk of Britain, the lawyer hired by the Hong Kong government to represent them in this case because they have no one locally that was familiar with how the law impacted trans people, argued that the existing law did not accommodate transgender marriage and it was up to the legislature to decide.

"If there is a desire to change attitude, then the legislature can seek to do that," she told the court.

Carss-Frisk warned that any judicial attempt to broaden or re-interpret the legal definition of "man" and "woman" would create uncertainties in the law.

Ms. W's lawyer Michael Vidler pointed out that other Asian nations such as mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan allow trans people to marry the opposite sex in their new gender.

Stay tuned, and keep praying that Ms. W wins.

Hong Kong Transwoman Fights For Her Marriage Rights

Here's another example of the how the GL push for same gender marriage has had a deleterious effect on the ability of transpeople to get married.

Thanks to my sis Leona Lo, I heard about this Hong Kong case.

Trans people in South Korea, Singapore, Japan, parts of Europe and even parts of mainland China have the right to get married and do. You would think that Hong Kong would also follow suit because it was ruled by Britain for 156 years until it reverted back to Chinese control in 1997.

Nope.

Despite its worldwide image as a modern, cosmopolitan city, Hong Kong is a largely traditional and conservative society where GLBT groups inside and outside of it often complain of intolerance, harassment and discrimination.

Thanks to growing 'Christian' fundamentalism in Hong Kong, it's getting worse for transpeople. Like everywhere else on the planet, the Hong Kong fundies have targeted transpeople as their 'Great Satan' to organize and rally against.

A twentysomething post operative transwoman is gearing up for a Hong Kong High Court battle to marry her boyfriend. She was told the reason she cannot do so is because Hong Kong law only recognizes marriages between a couple born as male and female.

Hong Kong transpeople can change their identity cards and school certificates to reflect their gender identity and be recognized as such, but do not have the right to marry someone of their birth gender.

And there's the rub. Someone in the Registry of Marriages has failed to note the simple fact that a transwoman, be she pre, post or non operative is a woman, period.

That means she does have the right to get married to any man, cis or transgender and this is NOT a same gender marriage.

In a landmark care in Hong Kong, a judicial review of the adverse ruling by the Registrar of Marriages is being conducted.

The transwoman in question has requested anonymity as she fights this ruling. and her attorney, Michael Vidler, said his client had undergone SRS within the past five years after years of gender therapy.

He told Wednesday's South China Morning Post that she was now "pleased to be a woman" and was in a stable relationship with her boyfriend.

The registrar's decision had "disregarded the gender therapy, ignored the reassignment surgery and deprived transsexuals of their human rights," Vidler told the newspaper.

A hearing was expected to take place in the next two weeks to set a date for a full hearing into the case.

But it's a travesty she's having to fight so hard just to marry the person she loves.