For years after coming out as transgender, Ling’er, an aspiring influencer in eastern China, struggled from heartbreak to heartbreak. Her family refused to accept her. When she tried to find an interim job to support herself, employers would not hire her.
And when her parents sent her to a hospital to try to change her gender identity, she was held there for three months, despite her repeated protests. She was forced to undergo treatment that included multiple rounds of electroshock therapy.
So when she later sued the hospital for subjecting her to unnecessary and unwanted treatment, she was not optimistic. Then the seemingly unthinkable happened: A court accepted her complaint, in China’s first known lawsuit over so-called conversion therapy involving a transgender person. And the hospital agreed in October to pay her a sizable settlement.
“To me, this is a win. With this money, I can start my new life, and start my own business,” said Ling’er, 28. “I can live my own life.”
Pleasantly surprised for Ling'er! This is the same country that sent a comic artist and her proofreader to jail for 10 years 6 months only as recently as 2018. That's good the article pointed out...
Pleasantly surprised for Ling'er!
This is the same country that sent a comic artist and her proofreader to jail for 10 years 6 months only as recently as 2018.
That's good the article pointed out the difficulty of having the courts even accept your case to begin with, and then the miracle of a settlement when there aren't even laws protecting LBGT folks nor folks with mental health issues.
This should NOT be seen as a landmark case. Each case will be judged depending on prevailing political climate and differing social ripples and how well connected the people involved are. Article also points out that Chinese law does not take precedence judgements into account.
Pleasantly surprised for Ling'er!
This is the same country that sent a comic artist and her proofreader to jail for 10 years 6 months only as recently as 2018.
That's good the article pointed out the difficulty of having the courts even accept your case to begin with, and then the miracle of a settlement when there aren't even laws protecting LBGT folks nor folks with mental health issues.
This should NOT be seen as a landmark case. Each case will be judged depending on prevailing political climate and differing social ripples and how well connected the people involved are. Article also points out that Chinese law does not take precedence judgements into account.