Malaysian trans woman loses court case over gender change
Mustafa Ali (R), Fadzil Noor (C) and Mahfuz Omar (UPALI ATURUGIRI/AFP/Getty)
A Malaysian trans woman has lost her court case to legally change her sex.
Ashraf Hafiz Abdul Aziz, 26, had sex reassignment surgery in 2008 in Thailand and hoped to obtain an identity card declaring she is female, AP reports.
However, while the country allows sex reassignment surgery, trans men and women cannot be legally recognised and the high court ruled that her surgery had merely changed her genitals, rather than her sex.
Earlier this year, reports said that one Malaysian district planned to send “effeminate” boys to a camp where they could be dissuaded from growing up gay or transgender.
A Terengganu state official said that 66 boys, aged between 13 and 17, were identified by teachers as having effeminate mannerisms.
Campaigners said the scheme was dangerous and would not work.
