Scenes at the Policy Dialogue on International Experiences & Consultation on the Draft Gender Affirmation Law organised in Hanoi on August 26. (Photo UN Women Vietnam)- Medical interventions are now non-obligatory for people who want to be recognised as transgender, and trans men are eligible for maternity leave should they be pregnant.These amendments were proposed to the draft Gender Affirmation Law and were discussed during the Policy Dialogue on International Experiences & Consultation on the Draft Gender Affirmation Law organised in Hanoi last week.Eighty representatives from the National Assembly, Ministries, NGOs and UN organisations gave their recommendations for the Gender Affirmation Law, which was drafted in June and is being amended by the Ministry of Health to present to the National Assembly Standing Committee this year. "Although Vietnam made progress in ending LGBTQ discrimination, especially for transgender people, when the right to change sex was recognised in 2015, the affirmation and recognition of transgender people are currently not applicable in reality. For example, men with uteruses or vaginas.This led many Vietnamese transgender people to go abroad or to illegal medical facilities to implement sex change surgery. They are not obligated to be sterilised in genital operations unless they want to.Transgender people, according to the draft, should also be able to marry their new gender after recognition.

Source: Viet Nam News August 30, 2022 05:04 UTC