"Transgender Chinese man wins first-of-its-kind labor discrimination case", 27 Jul 2017

^…A Chinese court…found that a transgender man was unjustly fired from his job, a first-of-its-kind ruling that activists called a step forward in the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. The litigant, who goes by “Mr. C”…sued his former employer, Ciming Checkup, a health services firm, alleging that he was fired for wearing men's clothes. He said his colleagues had told him he looked "like a lesbian" and might damage the company's reputation.

A court in the city of Guiyang ruled that Mr. C's employment rights were indeed violated. "The defendant terminated the contract with the plaintiff without a legitimate reason" and "infringed on the plaintiff’s equal employment rights," the ruling said. It also said workers should not be discriminated against "based on their ethnicity, race, gender or religious beliefs." The court ordered his former employer to pay him the equivalent of $297.

Though the compensation is modest, the case matters — for two reasons. First, activists believe that this is the first time a Chinese court has heard a case on transgender identity…Second, the verdict clearly stated that workers should not face discrimination…