There have been 4,000 - 5,000 Vietnamese people who have changed their gender.

Nguyen Huy Quang, Head of the Legal Department, Ministry of Health, said that there have been 4,000 - 5,000 Vietnamese people who have changed their gender in recent years.

They are classified into 3 groups: no medical intervention; only medical treatment (injections, hormones) and have had sex reassignment surgery. Most of them are male to female transgender in Thailand and many of them are public about their sex reassignment process, the truth about their identity… Some are famous singers or successful people in society.

However, due to the lack of guiding laws, transgender people have encountered many difficulties in re-confirming their identity and criminal records. Their identity cards and passports show their gender as male, the photo on their identity documents shows that they are male but the real person is female and vice versa.

These difficulties make it difficult for transgender people to travel, study, find jobs, and deal with banks and government agencies.

After the Ministry of Health coordinated with relevant ministries and branches to start drafting the Law on Gender Reassignment in Vietnam, Department Head Nguyen Huy Quang also said that the law now allows citizens the right to change their gender if there are gender abnormalities.

The Ministry of Health will take the lead in drafting a specialized law to realize citizens’ right to change their gender. The law is expected to be drafted and submitted to the National Assembly during this National Assembly term.

Mr. Quang said that the law will be built with the expectation that people who have undergone gender reassignment at legal facilities in Thailand or other countries will be accepted to re-identify their gender and name in their criminal records. People who undergo gender reassignment at facilities not licensed by the host country (also known as underground facilities) must undergo psychological counseling and medical examinations.

For those preparing to change gender, the proposed law requires that in addition to consulting with a psychologist, chromosome testing, or medical examination, each person must live with the new gender for a certain period of time to determine the level of integration before officially receiving medical intervention.

According to TTO