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Eliana Rubashkyn (born 25 June 1988) is a Colombian pharmacist and chemist,[4] known for being the first intersex person assigned male at birth legally recognised as a woman with a United Nations mechanism under the international refugee statute. Born in Colombia, Rubashkyn was formerly stateless. [5] She[a] currently works as a programme officer at ILGA world,[6] and as a harm reduction scientist developing human right campaigns of support addressed to LGBTI asylum seekers, refugees and intersex persons around the world.[7]
Rubashkyn's gender was recognised under the United Nations' 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.[8] Rubashkyn's case attracted international media and legal attention after her mistreatment following her detention at Hong Kong International Airport because of the incongruence between her gender identity and her passport photo, resulting in several years of statelessness in Hong Kong,[clarification needed] and inhumane reclusion into several refuge centers across Yuen Long.[9][10][11]
Rubashkyn moved to New Zealand as a refugee in 2014, and was granted New Zealand citizenship in 2018.[12] In 2023, Rubashkyn was charged with two counts of assault for throwing tomato juice on anti-trans activists Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull and Tania Suzanne Sturt at a counter-protest to Keen-Minshull's speaking tour.[13] In September 2024, Rubashkyn was convicted and discharged for the assaults, serving no time.[1]
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Rubashkyn was born in Colombia to a Ukrainian Jewish mother who had moved there in the 1970s.[14] She was born with the intersex condition of partial androgen insensitivity syndrome and was assigned male at birth.[15][16][17]
In 2011, Rubashkyn obtained her degree in pharmacy and chemistry at the National University of Colombia, and speaks five languages fluently.[18][12] After studying molecular biology in the University of Granada, she was granted a scholarship to develop postgraduate studies in public health at the Taipei Medical University, and at the same time started her transition and gender-affirming care in Taiwan. Rubashkyn identified that being stabbed in Colombia was catalyst for her decision to seek higher education elsewhere.[19]
Statelessness
Within a year of starting hormone replacement therapy, Rubashkyn's physical appearance changed dramatically due to her intersex condition, and the Taiwanese immigration authorities required her to update her passport at the closest Colombian consulate before she could begin her second year of master's studies. She travelled to Hong Kong to do so, but when she arrived at Hong Kong International Airport's immigration facility, she was detained for over eight months in several detention and refugee centres because of her ambiguous legal condition.[20][21][22]
Rubashkyn suffered from abusive mistreatment and constant sexual abuse and harassment in several of the reclusion centres in which she lived.[23] She was restrained in a psychiatric ward of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon, caused by an attempted suicide, after being mistreated and sexually abused.[24][25][26][27]
Unable to seek asylum to be granted protection as a refugee in Hong Kong due to the government not having ratified the UN Refugee Convention, she faced deportation, and suffered severe mistreatment in the airport's detention centre.[28] Rubashkyn refused to contact her home embassy to prevent deportation because of the lack of diplomatic assistance they offered, and she became de facto stateless on 30 October 2012.[clarification needed] Rubashkyn's position as a refugee limited the contact she could have with authorities from the governments of Colombia.[21][29][30]
With the help of Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), she was granted refugee status;[clarification needed] however, because Hong Kong is not a signatory of the 1951 refugee convention, it did not recognise her as a refugee and sought to deport her to Colombia.
Her case drew international attention, particularly in Southeast Asia and Colombia, where transgender, gender diverse people and intersex people are often persecuted. Her case was also noted in New Zealand, a country known for its stance on equality for LGBTI people.[31][32][33] In December 2013, the UN offered a solution by recognising Rubashkyn as a woman under the UNHCR refugee system. She became the first gender diverse person recognised as a woman in China or Hong Kong without having undergone a sex reassignment surgery or medical intervention.[34][35] A CNN story about her struggle and a short documentary about her life in Hong Kong won a GLAAD Media Award in May 2015.[36]
Resettlement
In May 2014, New Zealand accepted Rubashkyn as a refugee and granted her asylum, extending a universal recognition of her gender.[37] Her case was the first in the world in which the gender identity of a person was recognised internationally.[38][39] In 2015, Rubashkyn's marriage received significant media attention when the NZ Registrar of Marriages asked for Rubashkyn's dead name, alongside her legal name, to register the marriage.[40][41][42]
In 2019, Rubashkyn gave evidence as part of the investigation into the murder of Grace Millane, after realising she had served the accused in an Auckland pharmacy.[4]
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Since being resettled in New Zealand, Rubashkyn has worked as a pharmacist and is involved in a number of advocacy roles.[43]
Activism
Rubashkyn has advocated for rights of refugees and intersex, transgender, and gender diverse people in New Zealand and globally.[44] Rubashkyn has made contributions to United Nations Development Program and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in her capacity as the co-founder of Rainbow Path Aotearoa New Zealand, a LGBT refugee advocacy charity.[45][46]
During a protest against Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull in Auckland on 25 March 2023, Rubashkyn threw tomato juice over Keen-Minshull's head.[47] Subsequently, Rubashkyn reported receiving death threats.[48] Rubashkyn departed to Australia, then the United States, claiming she feared being arrested in New Zealand.[49][50][51] New Zealand police subsequently charged her with two counts of assault,[52][53][51] one count for the tomato juice incident with Keen-Minshull and another of assault against Tania Suzanne Sturt, an event organiser who was standing next to Keen-Minshull and was also splashed by the juice.[54][13] Supporters of Rubashkyn raised over $15,000 in the two weeks following the incident to cover her legal costs.[55] In April 2023, Rubashkyn's lawyer entered a not guilty plea on her behalf.[3]
On 20 September 2023, Rubashkyn's lawyer James Olsen applied to have the assault charges against her dismissed at the Auckland District Court. Keen-Minshull encouraged her supporters to gather near the courtroom via social media; having abandoned her second travel plans to New Zealand due to safety concerns. Keen-Minshull's supporters including a "Let a Woman Speak" group were met by members of the Trans Liberation Alliance (TLA) group congregated in St Patrick's Court near the Auckland District Court. This protest was peaceful with police separating the two groups.[56][57] Olsen argued that the case should be dismissed since Keen-Minshull had declined to lodge a complaint or submit evidence to the police. Police prosecutor Sergeant Phil Mann has sought to rely on Keen-Minshull's filmed statements to TVNZ following the juicing incident. On 26 October, Judge Claire Ryan rejected Rubashkyn's attempt to dismiss the charges against her and ruled that she would face trial for two assault charges against Keen-Minshull.[57][58]
In June 2024 as the case was headed for trial, Rubaskyn made a surprise guilty plea.[13] On 3 September, Judge Kirsten Lummis convicted and discharged Rubashkyn, meaning she did not serve time for either assault.[1]
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