Oscar Fung King-ho, a transgender student, filed a lawsuit against the incorporated management committee of Lung Kong World Federation School Limited, Lau Wong Fat Secondary School in Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong, alleging discrimination over hair-length policy. The suit claims the school required her to keep short hair in line with her sex assigned at birth and that she faced public humiliation and rebukes from teachers because of her longer hair before she left the school last year [1].
The conflicts started in September 2023, when a teacher warned Fung that her hair touched her eyebrows and violated the school's hairstyle rules for boys. Fung said she chose to grow her hair longer as it helped reduce her anxiety, despite the warnings [1]. The lawsuit highlights how those warnings escalated to public shaming and teacher rebukes.
Fung first publicly expressed her gender identity in 2021 by cosplaying female anime and manga characters, with both schoolmates and some teachers aware of these activities [1]. Her gender dysphoria began at age 14.
Lawyers for Fung sought unspecified damages from the school's management committee for the discriminatory treatment, as reported Thursday, following a District Court writ seen by the South China Morning Post on Monday [1].
Fung left the school last year amid the ongoing dispute.
The case currently remains before the courts. The next concrete step will be the court proceedings scheduled to address Fung’s claims against the school authorities.
