A decision to legally recognize a transgender as a woman three years ago might be revoked by authorities in the southern province of Binh Phuoc because of its “illegality”.

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The provincial authorities have also proposed disciplinary action against the officials who approved this decision.

On Monday Nguyen Van Hoi, chairman of Binh Phuoc People’s Committee, officially asked the justice department to act as a counselor in revoking two decisions issued by the People’s Committee of Chon Thanh district in 2009 and 2011 to allow Pham Van Hiep to re-define his sex from male to female and to change his name to Pham Le Quynh Tram.

The provincial people’s committee said in a statement that the gender recognition is against the law.

Since receiving approval to redefine her sex, Pham Van Hiep has become widely known as the first transgender in Vietnam recognized by the authorities as a woman.

“I can’t believe that this is true. I cannot describe my happiness of living with my true sex,” Hiep was quoted saying at the time.

Hiep said she was born with both male and female organs but was defined as a boy. “When I reached puberty, my body changed into a woman. My breasts kept growing. I was very frightened and did not tell anyone. I tried to hide it by eating a lot to gain weight,” she pointed out.

It was reported that in 2006, medical tests showed that Hiep had high female hormone volumes and female characteristics in her sexual organs. So, doctors advised Hiep to go to Thailand for a transgender operation.

Afterwards, she worked hard as a math, physics and chemistry teacher to earn enough money to pay for the life-changing operating.

After the successful procedure mid-2008, Hiep became a real woman and changed her name to Pham Le Quynh Tram, a woman’s name.