Spain law to allow for sex change without an operation

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday November 8, 2006

Madrid- Spanish transsexuals will be able to change name and identity documents without undergoing sex change operations, media reports said Wednesday. Parliament approved legislation described as one of the world's most liberal on Tuesday. Only the opposition conservative People's Party (PP) voted against. The law was expected to go into force in early 2007 after passing through the senate.

The current system allows transsexuals to change their names only with judicial approval after changing their physical sex, a risky and expensive operation.

The new law allows a man to take a woman's identity, or vice versa, if doctors certify that they feel like members of the opposite sex, have no psychiatric disorders and have been undergoing hormonal treatment for at least two years.

The law gave rights to "the 7,000 transsexuals who live in Spain," 80 per cent of whom were unemployed and half of whom had attempted suicide, Socialist MP Carmen Monton said.

Parliament also adopted legislation allowing lesbians to register as mothers when their partners have a child by artificial insemination.

In June 2005, Spain became one of the first countries to allow homosexuals to marry with the same rights as heterosexuals.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency