Born in Colombia on June 25, 1988, to a Ukrainian Jewish mother, Eliana Rubashkyn was the first person assigned male at birth to be recognized as a woman in China or Hong Kong without sex reassignment surgery and to be recognized as a woman under the United Nations’ international refugee statute.

Rubashkyn is intersex, meaning she was born with sex characteristics outside the binary categories of “male” or “female.” Rubashkyn was raised as a boy but knew herself to be a woman from a young age. Her gender identity put her at risk in the country of her birth, where she suffered from discrimination and abuse, including two murder attempts. These hate crimes influenced Rubashkyn’s decision to go abroad for education; after finishing her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, she studied molecular biology at the University of Grenada in Spain and public health at the Taipei Medical University in Taiwan. Rubashkyn says her family has been “running from hate” for generations, with her great-grandmother and mother previously fleeing antisemitism.  

In Taiwan Rubashkyn began hormone replacement therapy. Once her physical appearance changed, however, Taiwanese immigration authorities required her to update her Colombian passport. When she flew to Hong Kong—where the closest Colombian consulate was located—in 2013 to do so, Chinese authorities refused her entry, detained her, and issued her a deportation order. With the help of a local LGBT group called Rainbow, she obtained permission to enter Hong Kong but would only be allowed to leave for Colombia.  

Fearing a return to Colombia, Rubashkyn applied to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for refugee status. While obtaining refugee status is often a lengthy process, Rubashkyn’s case was considered clear enough that her application was granted in just twelve days. In December 2013, the UN officially recognized Rubashkyn as a woman under the UNHCR refugee system. 

As a refugee, however, Rubashkyn was now stateless, and still subject to deportation from Hong Kong. She applied to UNHCR for resettlement, and in 2014, she arrived in New Zealand, one of five countries that recognizes transgender identity without sex reassignment surgery.

Rubashkyn gained citizenship in New Zealand in 2018 and works as a pharmacist and as a harm reduction scientist and program officer of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association.  

 

Sources: 

“Eliana Rubashkyn.” n.d. Wikipedia. Accessed October 13, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliana_Rubashkyn. 

Lewis, Lydia, and Finn Hogan. . “Raped and beaten for her gender identity, refugee's story of survival.” Newshub, April 14, 2018. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2018/04/raped-and-beaten-for-her-gender-identity-refugee-s-story-of-survival.html. 

Rubashkyn, Eliana. “Transgender woman's nightmare in Hong Kong.” CNN, September 5, 2014. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/05/world/transgender-asylum-hong-kong/index.html.