香港變性女子贏得結婚權利

Hong Kong's top court handed down a groundbreaking ruling to allow a transgender woman to marry her boyfriend.

香港終審法院做出了一項史無前例的裁決，允許一名變性女子嫁給她的男友。

On Monday, the city's court of final appeal said that being transgender--someone whose physical and sexual characteristics may not match their gender identity--shouldn't stop someone from getting wed. The appellant, identified in court documents as 'W,' is a woman in her 30s who underwent sex-reassignment surgery in Hong Kong in 2008.

週一，香港終審法院說，變性不該成爲阻止一個人結婚的理由。所謂“變性”是指，一個人的生理特徵和性特徵可能與其性別認同不一致。此案中的上訴人在法庭文件中被稱爲“W”，是一名30多歲的女子，2008年在香港做了變性手術。

In its 4-1 ruling, the court said it was necessary to protect the rights of transgender people. 'The greatest and most urgent need for constitutional protection is apt to be found among those who form a minority, especially a misunderstood minority,' the judgment ran.

香港終審法院以4票贊成、1票反對做出這項裁決。法院說有必要保護跨性別人士的權利。裁決說，那些少數人羣總是最需要憲法保護，尤其是其中被誤解的少數。

Furthermore, in defining marriage, the court said, it made no sense to 'adopt criteria which are fixed at the time of the relevant person's birth and regarded as immutable,' the judges wrote. To do so, they said, would be to adopt a 'blinkered view.'

此外，法院的法官認爲，在對婚姻進行定義時，固守相關人出生時確定的標準並視其爲一成不變是毫無道理的。法官說，如果他們這麼做等於是抱着“狹隘的觀點”。

Gay-rights advocates cheered the decision. 'It's quite absurd that Hong Kong has maintained an obsolete position for so long,' said Law Yuk-kai, who heads the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor. According to documents submitted to the court, postoperative transgender people are already able to marry in their acquired gender in mainland China, India, Singapore, Japan and South Korea, among other countries in the region.

同性戀權利倡導者對這一裁決拍手稱快。香港人權監察(Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor)總幹事羅沃啓說，香港（在這一問題上）長期以來持過時立場非常荒謬。提交至法院的文件顯示，做過手術的變性人能夠以手術後的性別在中國內地、印度、新加坡、日本和韓國等亞洲多個國家結婚。

In Hong Kong, prior to filing her case, 'W' had already been allowed to carry a passport and identity card identifying her as a woman. She had also been required to use women's facilities in public toilets and sports grounds. However, when she applied to the Registrar of Marriages to marry her boyfriend in 2008, she was denied permission because her birth certificate described her as male.

在將案子提交至法院前，W在香港已經被允許攜帶性別顯示爲“女”的護照和身份證。她也需在公共廁所和運動場所使用女性設施。然而，當她在2008年向婚姻登記處申請嫁給她的男友時遭到拒絕，因爲她的出生證明上性別爲“男”。

The court's Monday ruling said that in Hong Kong, as well as in many developed nations, there have 'clearly been far-reaching changes to the nature of marriage as a social institution.' The city doesn't currently recognize same-sex marriage, but Waiwai Yeo of the Women Coalition of Hong Kong, which represents lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, said that this week's ruling gave her some hope.

香港終審法院在週一做出的裁決說，在香港，以及在很多發達國家，婚姻作爲一種社會制度，其本質顯然已經發生了具有深遠影響的改變。香港目前還不認可同性婚姻，但是香港女同盟會(Women Coalition of Hong Kong)的楊煒煒說，法院本週做出的裁決給了她一絲希望。香港女同盟會代表女同性戀、雙性戀和變性婦女的權益。

According to Ms. Yeo, there are about 200 people who have undergone sex-reassignment surgery in Hong Kong. 'But this figure can't represent the real number of people having surgery,' says Ms. Yeo, given that some seek the treatment overseas, such as in Thailand, in part out of social stigma attached to the procedure.

楊煒煒說，在香港大約有200人做過變性手術。但她說這一數字不能代表實際做過變性手術的人的數量，因爲一些人選擇在泰國等海外做手術。部分原因是社會對變性手術存在負面看法。

Hong Kong's first documented case of sex reassignment took place in 1981. According to figures submitted to the court, from 2007 to 2009, there were 86 patients in the city diagnosed with what physicians term gender identity disorder.

香港首例記錄在案的變性手術是在1981年進行的。據向法院提交的數字顯示，從2007年到2009年，香港有86名患者被確診爲存在性別認同障礙。