Transgender activists in China just scored a historic victoryA day after President Trump tweeted out

Transgender activists in China just scored a historic victory

A day after President Trump tweeted out that he wanted to ban transgender troops from serving in the US military, Chinese LGBTQ activists celebrated a landmark victory — a court ruling in favor of a transgender man in the country’s first transgender discrimination lawsuit.

The 29-year-old man, who goes by Mr. C to protect his family and girlfriend’s privacy, said on Thursday that a court in the southwestern city of Guiyang ruled that his rights had been violated when his employer fired him in 2015 because of his gender identity.

“We hope, through this case, people in similar situations will realize they have a right, and we hope it will eventually result in a workplace anti-discrimination law,” Mr. C told the Associated Press.

Mr. C was hired for a sales job at Ciming Health Exam Center, a health care services center in China’s Guizhou province, in April 2015. But just eight days later, he was fired.

In an interview with the New York Times in 2016, Mr. C said that the company’s human resources manager complained that he dressed like a gay man and said he might damage the company’s reputation.

Mr. C took his case to court, saying he was unlawfully fired. In December 2016, the court ruled that the company should pay Mr. C but also said that there was no proof that his firing was a result of discrimination.

The latest court ruling said that Mr. C’s rights were violated and ordered Ciming to pay him the equivalent of $297. The court also said workers should not be discriminated against “based on their ethnicity, race, gender or religious beliefs,” reported the Washington Post.

“Short of a formal apology from Ciming, I think this lawsuit has achieved its purpose,” Mr. C told the AP on Thursday.