Anyone of Spanish nationality aged at least 16 years old, or even in some cases only 14 years old, will be able on simple request to change the entry of their sex in the register of civil status, if a bill adopted on Tuesday 29 June by the left-wing government of Pedro Sánchez is approved by Parliament.
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This text, which created strong tensions between the socialists and the radical left-wing Podemos party, allies within the ruling minority coalition, would make Spain one of the few countries in Europe to allow gender self-determination. . The text, affirmed the Minister of Equality Irene Montero at a press conference after the Council of Ministers, will "
guarantee the real and effective equality of trans people
", as well as "
a whole important rights for LGTBI people, currently violated in our country
”.
According to a preliminary version of the project that AFP was able to consult, "
any person of Spanish nationality aged 16 and over may request the correction of the entry of their sex entered in the civil status register
".
Clearly, this law will allow a person to change their name and gender on their identity papers if they wish, without having to provide medical reports or undergo hormonal treatment.
The right to "
free determination of gender identity
"
"
We thus recognize the right to the free determination of gender identity, we are committed to 'depathologization', that is to say that trans people will no longer be considered sick in our country,
" explained Irene Montero, member of Podemos and fiercely in favor of gender self-determination. It is this point in particular which broke the dissensions within the government: the number two of the government, Carmen Calvo (socialist), had thus said in February to be "
fundamentally concerned by the idea that the genre is chosen on the simple basis of will or desire, weakening the identity criteria of the rest of the 47 million Spaniards
”.
Gender self-determination has been a subject that has become "
complicated
" in recent years, underlines Uge Sangil, president of the National Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Trans and Bisexuals. In an interview Tuesday with AFP, she mentions in particular "
dissenting voices
" from an "
exclusive feminist movement
", as opposed to inclusive feminism which defends the rights of transgender people. A feminism, according to Uge Sangil, which "
is closer to the speech of the ultra-right than to voices on the left
".
An accusation refuted by Tasia Aránguez, member of the feminist collective "
Against the erasure of women
", which denounces a law "
devoid of legal guarantees
" which could for example "
allow men with a criminal record of sexual assault to change their position. sex
”, and calls for the maintenance of the obligation of a medical diagnosis.
A period of three months
The two coalition parties ended up agreeing by including a three-month delay between the filing of the request and its validation by the applicant so that he can confirm his decision to change gender. Three months maximum after the registration of the request, "
the person in charge of the register of civil status will have to convene the person so that it ratifies its request and that it certifies the persistence of its decision
", stipulates the text. , which also plans to open this possibility to 14-16 year olds if they are accompanied throughout the process by their legal representatives.
With this law, "
I would not have had to give so many explanations, I would not have had to live this shame when a police officer asked me, mocking my identity card ... and lots of other things that I have experienced,
”says Sandra Herrero Ventura, 23.
Born Mario, Sandra had to undergo psychiatric therapy, hormonal treatment at age 17, vaginoplasty at age 19 and was able to change her name at age 20 thanks to a medical report attesting to "
gender disphoria
".
For Urge Sangil, the model country is Argentina, "
where the process is much simpler
", and where since 2012 change has been made by simple declaration.
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Within the European Union, the rights of trans people vary widely. In 2014, Denmark was the first European country to grant the right to self-determination of identity for transgender people. France, which in 2010 was the first country in the world to remove transsexualism from the list of psychiatric conditions, has authorized since 2017 the modification of civil status without having "
to justify medical treatment, surgery or sterilization
", but through a procedure before the courts.