As noted in the first article of this law, only Spanish nationals of legal age are eligible for this procedure. Unlike the previous applicable legislation, the requirement that gender morphological reassignment surgery is mandatory for gender modification is mandatory.
Procedure for people over 18
To initiate the rectification of the registration of the gender, as explained in the official website of the Ministry of Justice, it is necessary to go to the headquarters of the Civil Registry of the place where the person is registered. This process could be done in person or by mail to the corresponding Civil Registry. In any case, the request must include the following data of the interested party:
• Name, surname, national identity document number and address;
• A concise and numbered exposition of the facts - that is, a brief explanation of the facts that led to the petition -;
• The new name that he proposes in accordance with the sex whose rectification he requests, unless he wishes to keep the one he came from;
Regarding the modification of the name, either by proposing a new one or by maintaining the one that is before the registry modification, it is necessary that it meets certain limitations:
- That it does not harm the person because on its own or in combination with surnames may be contrary to decorum, dishonorable, humiliating or demeaning;
- That it is not confusing for identification (for example: last name in name);
- Do not mislead sex;
- That it is not the same as that of a living brother
- That it does not consist of more than two simple names or a compound name, and in case of a compound name it will be linked by script
• The fundamentals of law: the legislation that supports the petition, Law 3/2007;
• The request, clearly and precisely stated, that the reference to her sex be rectified and, where appropriate, the name. It is a matter of concretizing what is intended with this request.
• The possibility of including in the application the transfer of the registration form, that is to say, the request for a new birth certificate in which the name and the sex will be changed.
The application must also be accompanied by the following documents:
• The certificate of enumeration.
• Literal certification of birth registration.
• A photocopy of the DNI.
• The report of a doctor or clinical psychologist referring to two elements:
- The existence of dissonance between enrolled sex and gender identity or psychosocial sex and the stability and persistence of dissonance
- The absence of personality disorders that could have a decisive influence on the existence of dissonance.
• The report of the treating physician, stating that the person concerned has been medically treated for at least two years to accommodate their physical characteristics to the claimed sex. This requirement will not be necessary when there are reasons of health or age that make it impossible to follow the treatment, in which case will provide medical certificate of such circumstance.
These two reports are not necessary in the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia, the Canary Islands, the Basque Country, Navarra or Madrid, which have legislations on transsexuality that allow gender self-determination without the need to provide these documents.
Once the gender change has been made before the Civil Registry, the interested party may proceed to make this modification in the rest of their official documentation: DNI, passport, health card, municipal register, academic titles, etc.
What happens in the case of minors?
In Spain, there is no legislation authorizing the modification of the name and gender of transsexual minors. The decision depends, in any case, on the judge holding the Civil Registry to which it is necessary to turn based on the domicile. The resolutions of the Civil Registry that have solved these petitions of minors, although in some cases they granted the change of name, not the gender, which was postponed until the moment the person concerned reached the age of majority and then he could request it Based on what is regulated in Law 3/2007.
With respect to this, on March 10 the Supreme Court raised a question of unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Court following a case that is studying in which a minor requested the rectification of the gender in the registration.
Specifically, the Supreme Court's doubt is whether article 1 of Law 3/2007, inasmuch as it establishes that only the adults are entitled to perform this procedure, could be violating the fundamental rights to physical integrity And moral, to the personal intimacy and health of transsexual minors, in relation to the right to the free development of the personality.
Digital Newspaper El País
