Legal Gender Recognition

Identification documents are routinely required for many daily activities, but for the vast majority of trans and gender diverse people, it is impossible to obtain official documents, such as passports, identity cards or driver’s licenses which recognise their gender. Instead, their listed title, name, sex and/or gender is based on the individual’s sex assigned at birth.

This is not a simple administrative inconvenience: without documents that accurately reflect their gender, trans and gender diverse people are faced with insurmountable barriers to a life of dignity and respect. A mismatch between their actual gender and official documentation can lead to exclusion from education, employment, social protection, housing, and financial services, and can restrict freedom of movement across national borders. It can prevent them from accessing vital health services, including during times of medical emergency. As such legal gender recognition is key to the legal protection of trans and gender diverse people’s basic human rights.

APTN works to raise awareness and through research, publications and legal analysis, documents the discrimination that trans and gender diverse people experience. We collaborate with trans and gender diverse rights organisations and other stakeholders in the Asia Pacific region to advocate for legal gender recognition for trans and gender diverse people