Madrid, Spain
— The Spanish cabinet of ministers was due on
Friday to give the green light to a proposed law on
transsexual rights.
The planned legislation,
which Justice Minister Juan Fernandez Lopez guilar
already announced in parliament early May, would allow
individuals diagnosed as transsexuals to change their sex
and name.
The transsexuals would
not have to have had a sex change, but would have to have
been diagnosed by a doctor and have taken the initial
hormone treatment to change their external appearance to
their stated sexual identity.
The government had
promised to legislate before the end of this
month.
In a note prepared for
government ministers, the justice department argued the
reform would be "clear, brief, concise and aiming to
avoid confusion in the face of a social reality which
produces great suffering to the people
affected".
If the law goes ahead,
transsexuals will be able to have their sex and name
changed in the civil register.
Spain would join
countries like the UK, Sweden, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands and Turkey which have already introduced
similar laws.
