Tue 27 Sep 2016 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Hong Kong immigration authorities have again come under fire for their treatment of transgender people after their refusal to allow two transgender women tourists to enter the city state. The women arrived on a flight from Thailand but their statement that they were arriving for a holiday and shopping was deemed inadequate by immigration officials who asked if they had been 'cut', a slang term for gender reassignment surgery. Asked to sign documents confirming they had completed full gender reassignment surgery and that they would voluntarily go back to Thailand immediately the women refused and were immediately put on the next flight back to Thailand. An Immigration Department spokeswoman has said the women were "suspicious" and "failed to satisfy" authorities that they were genuine travelers. But Hong Kong Transgender Resource Centre chairwoman Joanne Leung Wing-yan says there was "no reason" to ask the pair to leave.In 2013 a transgender woman claimed Hong Kong immigration and customs officers behaved "like animals" during a body search and ridiculed her because of how she was dressed. In April in New Zealand a transgender woman was not allowed to board a Jetstar flight in Christchurch after difficulties regarding identification and her appearance. "It was just purely because I didn't present as their idea of what a female is," the woman said.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 27th September 2016 - 12:26pm