Hong Kong Court Orders Nulling Laws on Sex-Segregated Toilets

A Hong Kong court has ordered the striking down of regulations banning individuals from using public toilets designated for the opposite sex, in a ruling expected to improve treatment of transgender people.

The regulations violate Hong Kong’s constitution-like Basic Law and its Bill of Rights by creating a disproportionate and unnecessary intrusion into the privacy and rights of transgender people, the ruling said. It highlighted the distress and practical challenges that transgender people experience when using facilities designated for a gender that did not align with their own identity. The court will suspend the judgment for a year to allow the government time to address the issue.