Taiwan hospital fined for firing transvestite employee

A Taipei hospital has been fined after it fired a male employee for dressing as a woman at work, in what is reportedly the first such case in Taiwan.

The private Mackay Memorial Hospital was fined Tw$50,000 (£1,000, $1,700) for violating gender equality law after it laid off 35-year-old transvestite engineer Chou Yi-jen last year.



"The hospital broke the law, and I was really hurt ... I wish I could have my job back," Chou, clad in a mini-skirt, said.

Chou kept his cross-dressing from his employer when he was hired five years ago but he started to grow long hair and wear women's clothes to work last year.