Legal recognition of non-binary gender

The Slovak parliament is expected to vote soon on a bill that will make it impossible for transgender people to change their gender in official documents, Reuters reported, citing BTA.

Neither gender-affirming hormone therapy nor sex reassignment surgery is available in Albania, meaning transgender Albanians like Fiona face having to self-medicate or travel to North Macedonia, Serbia or Turkey. The costs, financial and psychological, can be huge.

The birth certificate to be equivalent to an identity document in the cases of lost, destroyed, or stolen identity card, are some of the changes proposed in the Law on Bulgarian Personal Documents, published for public discussion.

Banners lie on a street during a rally against violence against women marking International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in Sofia, 25 November 2019. EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

Lawyer Denitsa Ivanova, part of the NGO 'Deystvie' (Action), told BIRN the decision was "extremely disappointing". 

Turkey's Supreme Court has reversed a decision of a local court that rejected a transgender person's name change request for not having a sex-change operation, calling it a "violation of rights."

A man, identified by initials H.K., wanted to change his name to "D," as per the lawsuit

Law changes submitted by the Justice Ministry, and approved by the government last night, aim to amend the Law on Birth Registry in North Macedonia, allowing transgender persons to more easily and without scrutiny change their gender identities.

The amendments that have yet to pass parliament for the first time note a distinction between sex characteristics and gender.

The European Court of Human Rights, ECHR ruled against Romania on Tuesday for failing to satisfy of two transgender citizens' requests for recognition of their gender identity and asking them to "furnish proof that they had undergone gender reassignment surgery".

Health Minister Andreas Xanthos announced on Thursday that transgender people will from now on be treated by the ESY national health system according to the gender that they identify as.

The Austrian Alex Yirgen officially received papers verifying that he belongs to the third gender.

"For the first time in my life I feel recognized by the law," Alex said, pointing to the papers. He was born with atypical chromosomes. So far, there has been no room for the people who are neither men nor women, Yergen said.

Intersex people in Germany can now legally identify themselves as such under a new law adopted in December, reported BBC. 

People who do not fit the biological definition of male or female can now choose the category "diverse" on official documents.

Those choosing the option will need a doctor's certificate to register.