Trans rights gender ‘self-determination’ law passed in Spain

Thursday February 16, Madrid: Spanish Congress has voted in favour of the transgender rights bill which allows anyone over 16 years to change their gender on the national ID card.

The law was passed by 191 votes in favour, 60 against with 91 abstentions. Change of gender identity can now be made with a simple declaration, greatly streamlining the previous requirements of medical report and proof of hormone treatment. Those aged 14 and 15 are allowed to apply if their parents or legal guardians agree.

Denmark passed such legislation in 2014; Spain is one of the few countries legislating rights for transgender people. Westminster blocked a Scottish law in January similar to Spain’s trans rights law passed this week.

‘We’re celebrating the fact this law has passed after eight years of tireless work to obtain rights for the trans community,’ Uge Sangil, head of FELGBTI+, Spain’s largest LGBTQ organisation, said yesterday. Spanish opposition Popular Party (PP) urged caution on the vote, saying there could be suffering as a result of ‘hasty’ lawmaking.

According to the recent research from the Gender Identity Unit in Catalonia, there is an increasing number of minors reporting gender dysphoria over the past decade, the discomfort caused by feeling one identifies as the opposite gender, despite one’s biological sex.

According to DSM-5-TR the prevalence of gender dysphoria is 0.005–0.014% for adult males and 0.002–0.003% for adult females.

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