Three months after the entry into force of the trans law, the Official State Gazette (BOE) publishes this Saturday an instruction with the steps that civil registries must follow when a person requests a sex change, a procedure in which neither reports nor diagnoses are required.
The application may be submitted at any Civil Registry office and the authority for its processing will correspond to the person in charge of the office where the application was submitted.
The instruction makes clear the documentation that must be submitted “solely and exclusively”: application document with the identity data of the person and, if desired, the choice of the new name; birth certificate; DNI of the person concerned and, if under 16, also of parents or guardians; and if the person is between 12 and 14, the judicial resolution that authorizes the change of sex.
Once the request is received, which can be sent by certified mail, the person will be summoned to appear personally at the registry, accompanied by their legal representatives if they are under 16 years of age.
The person in charge of the registry will draw up a record of the “manifestation of disagreement with the registered sex”, which will include the request for rectification and the choice of a new proper name, unless the person wants to keep the one they have.
“The appearance will take place in a reserved space that provides a private environment for the requesting person, especially in the case of minors. The questions will be asked by addressing the declaring person with the name they have requested and will be limited to the necessary issues to verify their willingness to modify the registry mention related to sex”, is underlined in the instruction.
The person will be informed of the legal consequences of the step that they are going to take, of the reversion regime (they may request to return to the previous sex six months after the change), of the assistance resources that exist at their disposal and of the organizations that advise trans people and their families.
After three months, you will be summoned again to appear again in the registry and ratify your request and a month later a resolution will be issued on the change of sex, which may be appealed before the General Directorate of Legal Security and Public Faith, author of this instruction.
The trans law allows changing the registered sex from the age of 12, but the instruction indicates that there are younger children who “clearly feel their own sexual identity different from the one assigned at the time of birth and the delay in adoption of measures in such cases may have a detrimental effect on their personal development”.
In this context, Justice is committed to a flexible interpretation of the law, as was already being done, so that the previous habitual use of the chosen name does not have to be proven.
The legal representatives of minors under the age of 16 may request a change of their name to adapt it to their “feeling sex”, a process in which the minor must be heard in the registry “through an understandable communication adapted to the age and grade of maturity”
The trans law also established that, when registering a birth, parents can request that the mention of the sex of a newborn be left blank for one year with an optional part indicating the intersex condition of the newborn.
According to the instruction, after nine months the registry will send a reminder to parents advising them of the legal obligation to record the mention of sex.
The computer application of the records already allows you to choose the “intersex” option in the field of sex, which remains blank in the entry.
