Part I Experiences of being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex in the Asia Pacific The third International Intersex Forum advocated that intersex infants should be registered as either female or male with the awareness that, like all people, they may grow up to identify with a different sex or gender.334 At that future point, they should be able to choose from the full range of sex and/or gender options on official documents, including those outside binary, male and female classifications. Like the population as a whole, most intersex people will choose to identify simply as male or as female. For many, that may be a hard fought choice, as either they have been assigned an incorrect sex at birth or they are assumed to be a third sex. The decision to have one’s sex listed as a non-binary or third sex must be entirely voluntary for any individual.335 In some parts of Asia, intersex people have been allowed to amend sex details on birth certificates or other official documents. However, this is not typically based on principles of self-determination. Instead it is linked to medical requirements to ‘normalise’ any physical gender ambiguity. Requiring all intersex people to undergo medical or surgical procedures to gain legal recognition undermines the right to recognition before the law and to protection from medical abuses, as well as the right to physical integrity.336 Viet Nam’s 2008 Decree enabling surgeries on intersex people sets out the process for civil status registration after such procedures.337 This approach is also reflected in Viet Nam’s Civil Code.338 However, the 2008 Decree has been criticised for supporting surgical practices aimed at ‘normalising’ the bodies of intersex people rather than an affirmative recognition of bodily diversity.339 340 341 CASE STUDY: CHANGING AN INTERSEX PERSON’S TITLE The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand has recently examined government regulations related to changing an intersex person’s title in the civil registration records. Following a request from the Commission, the Department of Public Administration has enabled intersex people to ‘correct’ their honorific titles if they have undergone surgery. This has set a precedent and resulted in guidelines for officials in handling these matters. The Commission has subsequently organised several public fora to promote understanding of how intersex people can change their title in accordance with the operating procedures manual developed by the Department.340 Thai intersex activist Nada Chaiyajit has stressed the importance of the Commission’s role in raising awareness about intersex people, as distinct from transgender people, and both groups’ right to legal recognition. This creates a starting point to push for all intersex people to enjoy these rights, not only those who meet the current restrictive medical requirements.341 334 Public statement by the Third International Intersex Forum. 335 Open Society Foundations, License to Be Yourself: laws and advocacy for legal gender recognition of trans people, 2014. 336 Yogyakarta Principles, Principles 3 and 18. 337 Government of Viet Nam, Decree No. 88/2008/ND-CP of August 5 2008 on Sex Reassignment, Chapter 4, articles 11-14. The Decree the uses the term ‘sex reassignment’ to refer to medical procedures on intersex people and the resulting process for amending sex details on documents. 338 Civil Code, article 36, approved November 2015 and to come into effect on 1 January 2017. 339 R. Roca, ‘Tentative hope for LGBTI people in Vietnam’ in Star Observer, 29 July 2015; at www.starobserver.com.au/news/ international-news-news/tentative-hope-for-lgbti-people-in-vietnam/139133. 340 National Human Rights Commission of Thailand, Report of Examination No. 142/255, 14 May 2014. 341 Personal communication with Nada Chaiyajit, 21 September 2015. Chapter 4: Being intersex in Asia and the Pacific | 81