The government of Colombia has announced that trans people in the country can now change their legal name and gender marker without having surgery.
Surgery was a previous requirement in Colombia for legal gender changes, but as Justice Minister Yesud Reyes told media this week, it was an unnecessary and unfair obstacle, as not all trans people can afford, have access to or even want surgery.
Reyes told the newspaper that judges have ordered “body exams to determine if people have physically changed their sex or demanded a psychiatric opinion in order to know whether the person (who is seeking to legally change their name or gender) suffered from gender dysphoria.”
“Both practices were profoundly invasive of the right to privacy and based upon an impermissible bias,” said Reyes during the interview with El Espectador that it posted onto its website on Saturday. “The construction of sexual identity and gender is a matter that does not depend on biology.”
Reyes told El Espectador the decree would allow trans Colombians to publicly record their new gender through what he described as a “simple (bureaucratic) transaction” with a notary. They would receive documents with their new gender once they contact a registrar.”
Amazing! Congratulations, Colombia!