Channel News Asia
Vietnam passed a landmark law giving rights to transgender people in a move advocacy groups say paves the way for gender reassignment surgery in the nation.
Members from the local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community gather to celebrate a law newly approved by the National Assembly on transgenders in Hanoi on November 24, 2015. Vietnam has passed a landmark law enshrining rights for transgender people in a move advocacy groups say paves the way for gender reassignment surgery in the authoritarian communist nation. (Photo: HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images)
Such operations are currently illegal, forcing people to travel to nearby Thailand for the surgery. The legislation will allow those who have undergone gender reassignment to register under their new sex. The law will come into effect early in 2017 after 282 of 366 lawmakers voted in favor.
The country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community welcomed the move, saying it offered essential new rights. The law is also being seen as a crucial step towards allowing gender reassignment operations. People will no longer have to travel abroad to have the transgender surgery.
LGBT groups are still lobbying for Vietnam to legalise same-sex marriages after Hanoi briefly considered changing the law three years ago.
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