News » Vietnam
National Assembly transgender vote welcomed
  • By M.C | dtinews.vn | November 25, 2015 11:27 AM

Vietnam’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community have welcomed yesterday’s vote in the National Assembly to recognise gender reassignment as a civil right.

 Transgender people celebrating after the National Assembly recognised gender reassignment as a civil right.

The amendments to the Civil Code that recognised gender reassignment was overwhelmingly approved with 399 of 446 NA deputies, or 80% of the vote.

Transgender people will be eligible for sexual reassignment surgery in Vietnam and be able to change their name and gender on their identity papers.

The LGBT community in Vietnam expressed their delight at the news.

People in HCM City gathered on Nguyen Hue Street yesterday with posters carrying slogans such as Today is the Day; Thank You National Assembly and Time for Trans.

"We’re so happy as from now we’ll be given the right to live with our gender identity," said Pham Minh Tuyen, a female who was biologically a man. "We can also save money when having reassignment surgery here instead of having to go abroad."

In the central coastal city of Nha Trang, an LGBT group also held a big party to celebrate what they called a "historic day" for the LGBT community in Vietnam.

According to the Ministry of Health, around 500,000 people in Vietnam have gender identities different from their birth gender.

A recent survey by the Hanoi-based Institute for Studies of Society, Economics and Environment, more than 86 percent of transgender people want to change their names but without the need to undergo gender reassignment surgery.

More than 78 percent of them want to get gender reassignment surgery and at least 11 percent have had at least one operation, according to a survey of 219 transgender people.

In mid-2014 lawmakers agreed to decriminalise same-sex marriages, but fell short of legal recognition for such partnerships.

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