The transgender community of Vietnam has faced difficulties getting official identification cards, an issue that was discussed at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on June 3.

The seminar, held at the HCMC University of Social Sciences and Humanities, is part of a project to help LGBT people gain correct identification cards as well as access social services.

According to the organizers, the purpose of the event was to create an opportunity for young LGBT people to raise their voices and speak their minds regarding their individual rights.

According to Dr. Do Hanh Nga, head of the university’s Faculty of Social Work, recent studies show that it is usually hard for young transgender people to access social and health services as well as land jobs because they do not have the identification.

Transgender people face significant challenges because their appearance differs from the image on their ID card.

“Nobody accepts me and my real gender. They react strangely because I look like a woman while I have a male name on my identification card,” Yuki, a transwoman, shared at the seminar. “This is upsetting. I wish society would not discriminate against us. I want to have an ID that portrays my real gender as a transgender person.”

The event was also attended by lawyers, judicial officers, and LGBT experts who shared their knowledge with the goal of helping transgender people and others within the LGBT community to have correct identification cards.

Huynh Tan Dat, deputy director of the Legal Aid Center under the HCMC Department of Justice, said if there is any change in the process of one’s gender formation, he/she needs to ask competent agencies to determine his/her congenital gender.

After undergoing surgery, transgender people also need to ask authorities to adjust their identification.

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