After months of debates, sometimes heated, within the left in power, Spanish deputies today gave the definitive green light to a law that allows people to change their sex from the age of 16. The workhorse of the radical left-wing party Podemos, an ally of the socialists in government, the new law allows people who wish to change their gender on their identity documents through a simple administrative declaration. It will therefore no longer be necessary to provide medical reports proving gender dysphoria, i.e. the discomfort caused by a mismatch between biological sex and the gender with which a person identifies, and evidence of having undergone hormone treatment for two years, such as it has been so far for adults.
The text, approved with 191 votes in favour, 60 against and 91 abstentions, also extends this right to 14-16 year olds, with the consent of their legal guardians, and to 12-14 year olds, subject to the green light from justice. Thus Spain joins the few countries that authorize gender self-determination, such as Denmark, the first to have granted this right in Europe, in 2014. «Today we have taken a giant step by recognizing the free determination of gender identity », said the minister for equality, Irene Montero, defending a law that «no longer considers transgender people as pathological and also prohibits conversion therapy, aimed at imposing heterosexuality». Spanish MEPs also voted on a law that creates an unprecedented “menstrual leave” in Europe and strengthens the right to abortion in public hospitals, new “feminist achievements”, according to Podemos.