A person does not have to undergo complete sex reassignment surgery to be considered as having changed into a man or woman, lawyers for two transgender men have told Hong Kong’s High Court. The court began hearing their appeal on Monday against a ruling that backed a government policy on how a person’s sex can be switched on identification cards. They argue the official requirement that a full sex change is needed is unethical and degrading. But the counsel for the Commissioner of Registration countered that Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung was right in finding the requirement was “the only workable model” that was “fair to everyone and the public interest” when officers decide on applications seeking to make the change.