A Hong Kong court has ruled that a law prohibiting individuals from using some public toilets designated for the opposite sex must be struck down, as a judge partially upheld a legal challenge for widening acceptance for transgender people in sex-specific facilities.
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In the landmark ruling on Wednesday, the High Court upheld an anonymous litigant’s claim that the government violated its constitutional duty to safeguard residents’ equality and privacy rights by criminalising the misuse of public restrooms managed by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department at the expense of the transgender community.
Mr Justice Russell Coleman suspended his judgment for a year to allow the government time to come up with an approach, noting that officials might feel content to “let the criminal offence go”.
“I suppose the view could be taken that, as with other conveniences accessible by the public (but privately managed), there are other offences which can be used to deter and punish improper conduct,” he said in a 51-page judgment.
“This is a matter of line-drawing, which seems to me to be a question for the government or legislature to address.”
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He also stressed that the court would not judge where the line separating men and women should be drawn in the legal context, as it was a matter for legislation, “probably in the context of wider or interlinked questions”.