Taipei, Oct. 29 (CNA) Around 3,000 people marched on the streets of a Taipei shopping district Friday evening to show their support for the transgender community, according to the march's organizer, Taiwan Tongzhi (LGBTQ+) Hotline Association.
The marchers called for more understanding of and respect for the transgender community in Taiwan, according to the association, which added that the attendance at this year's event reached a new high.
According to the American Psychological Association, transgender is an umbrella term for individuals whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to what is typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.
Since 2018, the LGBTQ rights group has organized pro-trans marches in the Ximending shopping district every year on the eve of the Taiwan Pride Parade, with the exception of 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns.
The rights group told CNA that transgender people often encounter difficulties in the workplace or public spaces, such as medical facilities or restrooms, because of their gender identity or expression.
They also face discrimination and stigmatization from people who lack awareness of or openness toward the transgender community, the group said.
It called on the government to quickly revise regulations so that transgender people could freely change the gender on their national identification card or national insurance card to the sex they identify with or to a non-binary gender.
Under Taiwan's current law, a transgender person must obtain two gender incongruence diagnoses and prove that they have undergone a gender confirmation surgery before applying to change the gender on their ID card.
Nevertheless, a landmark lawsuit in 2021 in which the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled that the household registration office should allow a transgender woman to change the gender on her ID card without submitting proof of surgery has sparked more debate in society on whether the government should remove such a requirement in Taiwan.
