After years of family pressure and threats, Linger agreed in 2022 to be admitted to the psychiatric hospital her parents had found for her in Qinhuangdao, in northern China. Doctors diagnosed her with anxiety disorder and discordant sexual orientation. They told her that the only way to cure her was to subject her to electroshock. And that it was part of common "conversion practices" for people like her, a transgender woman.
28-year-old Linger spent 97 days hospitalized. During that time, she underwent up to seven sessions of electroshock that left her with many emotional and physical sequelae. She left the hospital with a series of heart conditions that require lifelong medication. She locked herself in her room for months, disconnected from the social networks where she had become a popular influencer thanks to her videos presenting cosmetics.
Last summer, Linger found the strength to emerge from the depression pit she had been thrown into. She realized that she was not sick, but that those who had a problem were the ones questioning her gender identity. She then decided to sue the hospital for violating her rights with the invasive electric shocks to her brain.
According to the China Mental Health Law, no one can be forcibly subjected to psychiatric treatment, let alone with electroshock therapy, unless the patient poses a threat to their own safety or that of others. The hospital doctors, when called to testify in court, argued that the admission was necessary because there was a serious risk that Linger's parents would commit suicide due to their daughter's disorder.
A few weeks ago, the court ruled in favor of Linger and ordered the hospital to pay her compensation of 60,000 yuan, which is approximately 7,900 euros at the exchange rate. It is the first time in China that a trans person has won a legal case against the use of conversion practices involving electroshock. The LGBT community in the Asian giant has celebrated it as a historic victory.
Linger started taking estrogen when she began university, confessing to her friends that she would save money to undergo gender reassignment surgery, after which, based on Chinese regulations, she could change gender in official records and identification documents. In the Asian country, such surgeries, even if the applicant is of legal age, require written consent from parents.
Linger's parents never gave it. She thought they would change their minds if she finally went to a hospital and doctors certified that she did not suffer from any disorder. She never thought that the first thing they would do was forcibly admit her. "They tied me to a bed with ropes and gave me electric shocks for many days", she denounced on her social networks after leaving the hospital.
Within the LGBT community in China, reports from human rights groups circulate frequently about how many homosexual and trans individuals are subjected in public and private clinics to so-called conversion therapies, ranging from electroshock sessions to hypnosis.