She Sued Over Transgender ‘Conversion Therapy,’ a First for China

Asia Pacific|She Sued Over Transgender ‘Conversion Therapy,’ a First for China

For years after coming out as transgender, Ling’er, an aspiring influencer in eastern China, struggled from heartbreak to heartbreak. Her family refused to accept her. When she tried to find an interim job to support herself, employers would not hire her.

And when her parents sent her to a hospital to try to change her gender identity, she was held there for three months, despite her repeated protests. She was forced to undergo treatment that included multiple rounds of electroshock therapy.

So when she later sued the hospital for subjecting her to unnecessary and unwanted treatment, she was not optimistic. Then the seemingly unthinkable happened: A court accepted her complaint, in China’s first known lawsuit over so-called conversion therapy involving a transgender person. And the hospital agreed in October to pay her a sizable settlement.

“To me, this is a win. With this money, I can start my new life, and start my own business,” said Ling’er, 28. “I can live my own life.”

The case is a rare bright spot in the fight for L.G.B.T.Q. rights in China. Ling’er’s lawsuit was covered sympathetically by some mainstream Chinese news outlets, even as overall coverage of L.G.B.T.Q. issues has diminished. That her lawsuit was accepted at all was a hard-won victory, her supporters said, in a country with no laws protecting L.G.B.T.Q. people.

As China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has overseen a crackdown on civil society, many L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy groups have been forced to shut down, and Pride celebrations have been canceled. Nationalist influencers have attacked L.G.B.T.Q. activism as a hostile foreign force. People have been punished for displaying rainbow flags.