Transgender people will no longer have to undergo sexual reassignment surgery or treatment to have the right to change their official documents to match their gender identity, according to a proposed law.
They will be able to ask the director of public registry to change their recorded gender on the strength of a public deed drawn up by a notary. This would include a “clear and unequivocal declaration by the applicant that one’s gender does not correspond to the assigned sex in the act of birth.”
Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli said that those who did not want to or who could not undergo surgery would not have to live a life of shame and struggle.
She knew of people who were not given jobs because their looks did not match the gender listed on their exam certificates and other documentation. “This is a law of social conscience,” she said yesterday as she also launched a public consultation process on the draft law.
The proposed law, which was yesterday presented in Parliament for its first reading, introduces the right to gender identity – a person’s internal experience of gender that may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth. Entitled the Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act, it states that minors who want to change their recorded gender would need their parents to file an application in the Civil Court. The court would have to ensure this is in the minor’s best interest.
In the case of intersex births (when it is not clear whether a child is anatomically male or female) the law proposes allowing parents to register the gender by the age of 14. At the moment gender has to be registered within a few days after birth.
The Bill also proposes recognising decisions taken in other countries, allowing for amendments of gender on all official documents such as the ID card and the passport, and making treatment on the sexual characteristics of a person without informed consent unlawful unless this is medically necessary.
It also provides for psychosocial counselling, support and medical interventions and provides for a revision of the protocol regulating sex assignment treatment.
Anyone interested in participating in the public consultation can do so by using the online form (www.msdc.gov.mt/GIGESC) or by e-mail (integration@gov.mt) until November 30.