Trans woman forced to undergo electroshock ‘conversion therapy’ wins record compensation in China

A 28-year-old transgender woman in China known by the pseudonym Ling’er has won a historic lawsuit against a hospital that subjected her to forced electroshock “conversion therapy.” The Changli County People’s Court in Hebei awarded Ling’er 60,000 yuan ($8,300) on Oct. 31, marking the largest known compensation in a case involving LGBTQ+ rights in China and a significant step in the fight against harmful medical practices.

About the case: Ling’er, a performance artist and livestreamer, came out as transgender in 2021. However, her parents, adhering to traditional beliefs, could not accept her gender identity. Believing she was mentally unstable, they admitted her to Qinhuangdao City Fifth Hospital in July 2022. Ling’er was forcibly hospitalized for 97 days, stripped of her phone and diagnosed with “anxiety disorder and discordant sexual orientation.” Despite not consenting, she was subjected to seven electroshock therapy sessions. The treatments caused Ling’er to faint repeatedly and she now suffers from heart problems requiring medication. “It caused serious damage to my body,” she told The Guardian. “The hospital tried to ‘correct me’ to make me conform to society’s expectations.” Ling’er filed her lawsuit in August 2024, arguing that the treatments violated her personal rights. While Chinese law allows forced psychiatric treatment only when patients pose a risk to themselves or others, the hospital justified their actions by citing a potential threat to her parents’ emotional well-being. The court ultimately ruled in Ling’er’s favor.
Why this matters: Speaking to CBS News, Ling’er expressed hope that her case would inspire change. “I feel good, I won my case. I hope my case will be useful for transgender cases in China,” she said, calling for safeguards and basic human rights for the transgender community. The landmark ruling marks the first time a transgender person in China has successfully challenged forced conversion practices in court. LGBTQ+ activists hailed the decision as a step forward, but challenges persist for the estimated 4 million transgender people in the country. Conversion practices operate in a legal grey area in China, where homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness in 2001 but distress related to sexual orientation or gender identity was only recently removed from medical guidelines. A 2019 survey revealed that nearly one in five transgender youths in China reported being forced into conversion practices by their families. “In China, the situation for transgender people is not very optimistic,” Ling’er told The Guardian. “There’s a lack of protection for this group.”

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