Legal status of transgender people
The legal status of transgender people varies significantly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transgender individuals face discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and other areas of life.
A transgender person is someone whose gender identity is not consistent with the sex they were assigned at birth and also with the gender role that is associated with that sex. They may have, or may intend to establish, a new gender status that accords with their gender identity. Transsexual is generally considered a subset of transgender, but some transsexual people reject being labelled transgender.
Globally, most legal jurisdictions recognize the two traditional gender identities and social roles, man and woman, but tend to exclude any other gender identities and expressions. People assigned male at birth are usually legally recognized as men, and people assigned female at birth are usually legally recognized as women, in jurisdictions that distinguish between the two. However, there are some countries which recognize, by law, a third gender. That third gender is often associated with being nonbinary. There is now a greater understanding of the breadth of variation outside the typical categories of "man" and "woman", and many self-descriptions are now entering the literature, including pangender, genderqueer, polygender, and agender. Medically and socially, the term "transsexualism" is being replaced with gender incongruence or gender dysphoria, and terms such as transgender people, trans men, and trans women, and non-binary are replacing the category of transsexual people.
Many of the issues regarding transgender rights are generally considered a part of family law, especially the issues of marriage and the question of a transgender person benefiting from a partner's insurance or social security.
The degree of legal recognition provided to transgender people varies widely throughout the world. Many countries now legally recognize sex reassignments by permitting a change of legal gender on an individual's birth certificate. Many transsexual people have permanent surgery to change their body, gender-affirming surgery or semi-permanently change their body by hormonal means, transgender hormone therapy. The legal status of such healthcare varies. In many countries, some of these modifications are required for legal recognition. In a few, the legal aspects are directly tied to health care; i.e. the same bodies or doctors decide whether a person can move forward in their treatment and the subsequent processes automatically incorporate both matters. In others, these medical procedures are illegal.
The Yogyakarta Principles and Yogyakarta +10 affirm the right to self-determination and protection from medical abuses for trans and gender-diverse people.
According to one study, opposition to transgender rights was correlated with a preference for obedience and conformity regardless of partisan affiliation.
In some jurisdictions, transgender people can benefit from the legal recognition given to transsexual people. In some countries, an explicit medical diagnosis of "transsexualism" is necessary. In others, a diagnosis of "gender dysphoria", or simply the fact that one has established a non-conforming gender role, can be sufficient for some or all of the legal recognition available. The DSM-5 recognizes gender dysphoria as an official diagnosis. Not all transgender or transsexual people feel gender dysphoria or gender incongruence, but in many countries a diagnosis is required for legal recognition, if transgender people are legally recognized at all.
Legislative efforts for the recognition of gender identity
National level
Legislative efforts against the recognition of gender identity
National level
Subnational level
United States
Africa
Botswana
In September 2017, the Botswana High Court ruled that the refusal of the Registrar of National Registration to change a transgender man's gender marker was "unreasonable and violated his constitutional rights to dignity, privacy, freedom of expression, equal protection of the law, freedom from discrimination and freedom from inhumane and degrading treatment". LGBT activists celebrated the ruling, describing it as a great victory. At first, the Botswana Government announced it would appeal the ruling, but decided against it in December, supplying the trans man in question with a new identity document that reflects his gender identity.A similar case, where a transgender woman sought to change her gender marker to female, was heard in December 2017. The High Court ruled that the Government must recognise her gender identity. She dedicated her victory to "every single trans diverse person in Botswana".
Egypt
Transgender people face significant existing societal stigma against the LGBT+ community in Egypt, a conservative Muslim nation. The procedure for gender reassignment is not illegal in Egypt, however, the complication and stigmatisation has put transgender people through mental and physical assault along with torture, as per Human Rights Watch. Reportedly, the statistics of criminal acts committed against the transgender community have not been available because they have had a history of going unreported.Kenya
In August 2025, the High Court of Kenya ruled in favor of transgender rights, and ruled that certain rights had been violated against a specific transgender person, "including freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, equality and non-discrimination, dignity, freedom and security of the person, and privacy were unconstitutional." The court ordered the national parliament to implement "the enactment of the Transgender Protection Rights Act, or, in the alternative, the amendments of the Intersex Persons Bill 2024".South Africa
The Constitution of South Africa forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, gender and sexual orientation. The Constitutional Court has indicated that "sexual orientation" includes transsexuality.In 2003 Parliament enacted the Alteration of Sex Description and Sex Status Act, which allows a transgender person who has undergone medical or surgical gender reassignment to apply to the Department of Home Affairs to have the sex description altered on their birth record. Once the birth record is altered they can be issued with a new birth certificate and identity document, and are considered "for all purposes" to be of the new sex.
Asia
China
According to a survey conducted by Peking University, Chinese trans female students face strong discrimination in many areas of education. Sex segregation is found everywhere in Chinese schools and universities: student enrollment, appearance standards, private spaces, physical examinations, military trainings, conscription, PE classes, PE exams and physical health tests. Chinese students are required to attend all the activities according to their legal gender marker, otherwise they will be punished. It is also difficult to change the gender information of educational attainments and academic degrees in China, even after sex reassignment surgery, which results in discrimination against well-educated trans women.Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal ruled that a transsexual woman has the right to marry her boyfriend. The ruling was made on 13 May 2013.On 16 September 2013, Eliana Rubashkyn, a transgender woman claimed that she was discriminated and sexually abused by the customs officers, including being subjected to invasive body searches and denied usage of a female toilet, although Hong Kong officers denied the allegations. After being released, she applied for and was granted refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, rendering her effectively stateless awaiting acceptance to a third country.
In February 2023, the Court of Final Appeal ruled that the government's requirement of full sex reassignment surgery in order to update gender identity on ID cards was unconstitutional and unacceptably burdensome., the ruling has yet to be implemented.
India
In April 2014, the Supreme Court of India declared transgender to be a 'third gender' in Indian law. The transgender community in India has a long history in India and in Hindu mythology.The Transgender Persons Act, 2019, was passed by Parliament in November 2019, and came into effect on 11 January 2020. It protects transgender individuals against discrimination in education, employment and healthcare. It recognizes the gender identity of the individual, and there are provisions in the law for a certificate to be issued with their new gender identity. There have been reservations among some in the transgender community, both regarding the difficulty of obtaining a certificate, and because of lack of awareness and lack of sensitivity to the issue among local public officials. LGBTQ protests against the bill have occurred, with claims that the bill hurts the transgender community instead of helping it. Protesters noted the provision for certification, but criticized the fact that this would require people to register with the government in order to be recognized as transgender. They also criticized the inequality inherent in the vast differences in punishment for the same crime, such as sexual abuse, committed against violating a transgender or cisgender individual.
Iran
Beginning in the mid-1980s, transgender individuals were officially recognized by the government and allowed to undergo sex reassignment surgery.Officially the leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa declaring sex reassignment surgery permissible for "diagnosed transsexuals". The government provides up to half the cost for those needing financial assistance, and a sex change is recognised on the birth certificate. Despite this, Iran's transgender people face discrimination in society. Founded in 2007 by Maryam Khatoon Molkara the Iranian Society to Support Individuals with Gender Identity Disorder is Iran's main transsexual organization.
Additionally, the Iranian government's response to homosexuality is to pressure lesbian and gay individuals, who are not in fact transsexual, towards sex reassignment surgery. Eshaghian's documentary, Be Like Others, chronicles a number of stories of Iranian gay men who feel transitioning is the only way to avoid further persecution, jail, or execution. Maryam Khatoon Molkara—who convinced Khomeini to issue the fatwa on transsexuality—confirmed that some people who undergo operations are gay rather than transsexual.