HKU Bulletin June 2011 (Vol. 12 No. 2)

protect the rights of members of this particular group," she says. Dr Winter says prejudice against transpeople is rooted in the mistaken idea that they are mentally ill. This is reinforced in psychiatric manuals, which say transgender people have a 'gender identity disorder'. "The diagnosis pathologizes their identity," he says. "Transpeople feel they are ordinary people who grew up in a way that is discordant with their body. They don't feel mentally disordered, nor does their condition merit being regarded as such, but they have to submit to being labelled by a disease." The diagnosis is a necessary step to getting gender reassignment surgery, but this fails to acknowledge the fact that many transgender people do not have or want the surgery. European studies suggest one in 30,000 males seek the surgery and one in 100,000 females, but Dr Winters believes the number of transgender people could be many times higher than that. Gender on the brain "For some transwomen, their sense of being a woman doesn't come from what's between their legs, and they feel removing their penis won't make them any more of a woman," he says. In fact, "there is increasing evidence that people may be biologically hard-wired to identify as male or female." This possibility, 'brain sex', may explain why transgender people feel they have a mix up between their mind and their body. Getting acceptance of that concept remains difficult, though. Unlike Hong Kong, some countries in Asia, such as China, Japan and Singapore, do allow transpeople to legally change their sex, but only if they have gender reassignment surgery which in effect sterilizes them. "They have to submit to a diagnosis of mentally disordered and they have to submit to the knife," he says. Some European countries allow the legal change without the surgery. Dr Winter is working to alter attitudes here. He offers a Common Core course on sexuality and diversity that covers transgender issues and includes talks by transgender people. The hope is that among undergraduates at least, some of the prejudices will be broken down. On January 1, 2010 the government launched new legislation to cover domestic violence in same sex relationships. But how effective is it? If asked to consider the issue of domestic violence, most people think of conflict between a husband and wife. But a lesser known concern is violence in same sex relationships. Yet one survey suggests it is remarkably prevalent, running at a staggering 49.9 per cent of the homosexual population. In comparison heterosexual domestic violence is thought to stand at around ten per cent. Last year the Hong Kong government introduced legislation to extend legal protection to victims of violence in same sex co-habitation. Faculty of Law postgraduate student, Michael Lam, has been considering its effectiveness and finds that very few people are even aware of its existence. "For my research I am not just looking at the law itself because now that the law has been changed everyone has equal treatment, everyone in theory is now protected under that legislation. But for legislation to work, you need complementary policies, so that's why my research is looking at the surrounding areas of the law and not just the law itself," he says. Ways of raising awareness Ways of raising awareness of new legislation include running a marketing campaign or holding workshops. These measures are adopted in promoting a victim's rights in general domestic violence but are not extended solely for same sex discord. "I was at a workshop recently and was horrified by what they were talking about," says Mr Lam. "It was billed as a workshop on same sex domestic violence but the audience was made up of elderly women, housewives and children. It was organized by Harmony House and their view is that they can educate the public by simply talking about it, which I think is a great idea, but the problem is that the workshop was organized more like Homosexuality 101, with questions like 'Is homosexuality contagious?' This was completely irrelevant to that particular audience and this is why the gay community is unaware of what the legislation is about." "So awareness is a problem, and then we also have a lack of support services. There are only one or two centres in Hong Kong that cater for male victims of sexual violence. Yet one study conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that 49.9% of 1,000 respondents had experienced violence in the gay community. US figures are slightly different, citing 45 per cent for both sexes. But what this research shows is that domestic violence in same sex co-habitation does exist and is a problem." Lack of funding "The government's view is that the law is now in place so they need not publicize it. You can see that government funded agents and NGOs have worked towards promoting the legislation, like the Harmony House workshop, but their problem is a lack of funding. They can't afford to concentrate solely on same-sex violence, so they are trying to use the same funding to cover both areas." As domestic violence legislation is a civil law remedy leaving no criminal record, it is difficult to say how effective the legislation has been or, indeed whether it has been utilized at all. "In fairness it's really too early to say. It can take up to ten years before new legislation takes effect. But then you have to also look at the progress that has been made so far which is, frankly, pretty much zero." "I have no doubt that in five years time, awareness will be higher. These organizations are doing the best they can with the funding and resources available to them. My research is really to reflect that people shouldn't be satisfied with the fact that the legislation is there. It's not finished yet, it's a journey that should continue." Mr Michael Lam Posters made by students in Dr Sam Winter's class. Dr Sam Winter Cover Story 17 The University of Hong Kong Bulletin June 2011 A Journey Towards Equal Protection Under the Law