Marco Wan on Law, Film, and Trans Identity in Hong Kong (International Journal of Constitutional Law)

"Law, film, and trans identity in Hong Kong"

Marco Wan

International Journal of Constitutional Law, Volume 21, Issue 2

Published: 01 June 2023

Abstract: This article examines the construction of trans identity in Hong Kong law and cinema. By juxtaposing the key Hong Kong court cases on trans rights and some recent feature films on trans experience, it argues that film can reproduce and reinforce the understanding of identity in the court cases, and that they can unwittingly perpetuate the dynamic of exclusion enacted in those cases. Law and popular film may seem to be distinct discursive domains, but their constructions of trans identity are in fact intertwined. The article contends that to break out of these limiting identity formulations, we need to move beyond the dominant imaginaries of law and popular culture. It offers one way of doing so by turning to independent queer filmmaking as a forum for articulating and recognizing alternative trans subjectivities.

Stefano Osella et al on Introduction: Trans Identities and the Law (International Journal of Constitutional Law)

"Introduction: Trans identities and the law"

Daniela Alaattinoğlu, Alice Margaria, Stefano Osella

International Journal of Constitional Law, Volume 21, Issue 2

Published: 01 June 2023

Abstract: This Symposium offers a critical exploration of how the identities of trans people are translated, recognized, and considered in the law. In so doing, it sheds light on the often-difficult coexistence between the lived experiences of trans people and their legal regulation. The main argument that the Symposium advances is that multiple structural—legal, social, and cultural—factors influence the evolution of rights pertaining to gender identity. Identity recognition—the articles show—is also key to accessing multiple other rights and benefits in society. The Symposium includes five articles, all addressing the recognition of diversity and the construction of gender in law, focusing on a variety of jurisdictions and drawing on different disciplinary perspectives. Showing a multifaceted approach to one of the most topical public law challenges, this Symposium discusses the limits and the possibilities of law in advancing the rights of trans people.

Kelley Loper on Hong Kong’s Top Court Rules Surgery is Not Needed to Register Gender Change (The Washington Post)

"Hong Kong’s top court rules surgery is not needed to register gender change"

The Washington Post

Published on 6 February 2023

Introduction: HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s highest court handed down a landmark ruling Monday that will allow transgender people to amend their gender listing on their identity cards without undergoing full reassignment surgery.

Citations from Kelley Loper: ... Compared with other Asian countries, Hong Kong falls somewhere in the middle in terms of transgender rights, said Kelley Loper, director of the Master of Laws in Human Rights program at the University of Hong Kong,...Loper said that although Monday’s ruling is a significant step toward better protection of transgender people in Hong Kong, there is still a long way to go. She noted that the city still does not recognize nonbinary gender categories, unlike many other countries. 

“Hopefully this decision will spark or restart discussion about gender recognition in Hong Kong and what sort of legislation may be needed,” she said. 

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Marco Wan on Queer Temporalities and Transgender Rights: A Hong Kong Case Study (Social & Legal Studies)

"Queer Temporalities and Transgender Rights: A Hong Kong Case Study" 
Marco Wan 
Social & Legal Studies An International Journal

First Published: 2020-8-27
Abstract: This article investigates how theoretical explorations of queer time can shed light on our understanding of law. Taking transgender rights in Hong Kong as a case study, it argues that legal judgments can entrench normative temporal structures and impose tropes such as linearity, futurity, and finality onto the life scripts of trans subjects. Through close readings of the Court of Final Appeal decision in W v. Registrar of Marriages and the recent judicial review challenges that have emerged in its aftermath, it demonstrates how the cases exclude transqueer individuals who do not fit into those temporal trajectories from the realm of rights protection. It also suggests ways of thinking about the temporalities of transgender issues differently. The analysis here stages an encounter between law and literary/cultural theory, and provides a new perspective on the current state of transgender rights in Hong Kong.

Marco Wan on Queer Temporalities and Transgender Rights: A Hong Kong Case Study (Social & Legal Studies)

"Queer Temporalities and Transgender Rights: A Hong Kong Case Study"

Marco Wan

Social & Legal Studies

Published online in August 2020

Abstract: This article investigates how theoretical explorations of queer time can shed light on our understanding of law. Taking transgender rights in Hong Kong as a case study, it argues that legal judgments can entrench normative temporal structures and impose tropes such as linearity, futurity, and finality onto the life scripts of trans subjects. Through close readings of the Court of Final Appeal decision in W v. Registrar of Marriages and the recent judicial review challenges that have emerged in its aftermath, it demonstrates how the cases exclude transqueer individuals who do not fit into those temporal trajectories from the realm of rights protection. It also suggests ways of thinking about the temporalities of transgender issues differently. The analysis here stages an encounter between law and literary/cultural theory, and provides a new perspective on the current state of transgender rights in Hong Kong.