Exclusive: EOC urges law for 'unlabeled gender' toilets

The Equal Opportunities Commission hopes to see a law for shopping malls and public buildings that makes mandatory one separate toilet in every 10 for use by sexual and gender minorities, says chairman Ricky Chu Man-kin.

"I agree with the idea of protecting the rights of sexual/gender minorities by way of legislation even if comprehensive legislation is controversial given current social divisions," he said in an interview with The Standard at his Wong Chuk Hang office.

The idea emerged from consultations with the public and the LGBT community.

Chu said the EOC's first priorities are employment, education and use of public facilities for people who identify themselves as "gender minorities" - defined as groups whose sexual identity, orientation or practices differ from the majority.

Chu proposed laws be drafted to regulate malls and public places so they have an appropriate arrangement on changing rooms and toilets for these minorities.

"Third-type toilets" should be built alongside ladies' and gents' ones, Chu said, but he pointed out that labels for such toilets did not sit well with sexual/gender minorities "as they do not want to be labeled," he said.

It is also not suitable for these minorities to use toilets designated for people with disabilities as gender minorities do not consider themselves disabled, he said, as it would deprive the disabled of rights to use these more accessible toilets.

Chu held up as toilet design models those Taiwan, Canada and Australia use.

"The fairest way is for a separate room with all facilities for everyone, no matter the color of their skins, disability or gender, to protect everyone's privacy, but in Hong Kong that may not be possible due to space constraints," he said.

Ladies' and gents' toilets should be kept while some separate toilets should be built according to demographic ratios.

Sexual/gender minorities made up 10 percent of the population, according to Chu, while about 8 percent of the population are disadvantaged.

As such, Chu suggested that the ratio of "separate" toilets to general ladies' and gents' toilets should be 1:10.

That may be regulated under the Buildings Ordinance so that all malls or facilities like sports' halls and swimming pools should have separate toilets and changing rooms based on this raio, he said.

"From a social perspective, legalizing same-sex marriage is the ultimate goal but we still have a long way to go," Chu said.

The commission hopes to launch the first phase of its consultation on protecting sexual/gender minorities' rights by the end of the year.

It also expects to submit a law report to extend the scope of sexual harassment regulations under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance to the government this year.

The report will be focusing on image-based sexual violence. There is room for improvement in probes and search for evidence of publishing photo-shopped indecent photos through mobile phones or the internet.

The law does not cover the crime of putting a head shot onto an indecent photo and then publishing it on the internet.

The commission would also like to introduce a law to cover sexual harassment in public transport through civil litigation under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance.

The ordinance only requires that the victim and the offender should have a specific relationship, such as employee/boss or student/teacher.

"It is a gray area," Chu said.

"If two people use indecent and obscene language when talking about a stranger in public transport, the commission cannot step in as they do not have a specific relationship. But the boundary should be set up clearly," Chu said.

Under MTR by-laws, the maximum penalty for using abusive, obscene or offensive language, or behaving in a riotous, disorderly, indecent or offensive manner, is a HK$5,000 fine.

The Summary Offences Ordinance covers indecent assault.

The commission is also looking at expanding the right of gathering evidence search and expects to legislate it in 2024-2025 at the earliest.