IN a landmark ruling, two British judges have granted a Singaporean transgender woman sanctuary, allowing her to remain in the UK and absolving her from having to return to her home country to carry out compulsory military service.
The 33-year-old Singaporean, who remains unnamed due to legal reasons, had completed her mandatory two-year national service term when she was 18, but after that, all males are required to do two weeks of reserve service every year for up to eight years. Those who refuse to do so are liable to face a steep fine and 15 months in prison.
While she is recognized as a woman in the UK, where she has resided since 2004, her Singaporean identification documents state her as a man, and she would therefore have to carry out her military service among men.
The only way to circumvent the requirement would be to undergo gender reassignment surgery, as under Singaporean law, military service is not compulsory for women or fully-reassigned transgender women, but the Singaporean has opted against it.
According to the Singaporean, she has lived as a woman for 10 years, and would find it intolerable to have to live as a man during training, claiming that she still had nightmares involving her previous National Service term.
From 2004 to 2012, she lived in the UK under a student visa, but once her studies were completed, she applied for asylum, stating that she found it distressing to have to return to Singapore and fulfill her reservist obligations, reported The Guardian.
However, the UK Home Office rejected her request, stating that it could not find sufficient evidence to prove that she would face the kind of persecution or personal endangerment in Singapore that would convince them to grant her asylum.
The Singaporean persisted with her attempts to gain sanctuary, and was only recently successful, when a judge blocked the Home Office from deporting her, stating: “I find that the requirement of the appellant to essentially hide her gender and live as a man, even for two weeks a year, would be wholly unreasonable.”
Following that, the Home Office appealed against the decision, but the appeal was rejected by another judge.
Speaking to press after the Singaporean was granted asylum on Wednesday, her solicitors said: “We are pleased that the plight of this transgender woman has been resolved successfully. It means she can now enjoy living a full life without any compromise to her gender identity or her personal integrity. This is a basic right denied to her in Singapore.”
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