Legal Consequences of Sex Reassignment and Transsexuality in Spain
Legal Consequences of Sex Reassignment and Transsexuality
Motivations for Legal Study
Legal study of sex is motivated primarily for two reasons:
- 1. The continuing discrimination against women.
- 2. Because of transsexuality.
Scientific and Surgical Advances
The enormous advances in science, technology and other areas that we have experienced have been noted also in the field of plastic surgery, making sexual conversion surgery a reality for people suffering from gender dysphoria syndrome. This raises the issue of what legal consequences may be derived from a change, through medical intervention, of the status and marital situation of people suffering from this syndrome.
Constitutional Court Decisions
The Constitutional Court (TC) first pronounced on this issue in the well-known decision of 2 July 1987, which came to recognize that, following transsexual surgery, a person could request the amendment of their birth registration as to sex. That decision recognized the primacy of the personal and psychological aspects over the biological, while also noting that surgery cannot alter chromosomes, which ultimately determine a person's biological sex.
Other judgments of our Constitutional Court have followed a similar direction, maintaining that a registry change of the person's name and the indication of sex may be recognized without requiring absolute proof of sex reassignment surgery; however, some decisions also held that such changes did not automatically permit marriage to another person of the same sex under the law at that time.
DGRN Ruling of 8 May 2001
The Dirección General de los Registros y del Notariado (DGRN) issued important resolutions, notably on 8 May 2001, in which it authorized the marriage of a transsexual person and allowed the change to be entered on the Civil Registry (Registro Civil).
Requirements to Change Sex on Registry
The requirements imposed by this standard to change the sex of a person on the registry are two:
- Medical certificate attesting to the symptoms of dysphoria.
- That the individual has undergone at least two years of medical treatment to align their characteristics with the claimed sex, except when, for reasons of health or age, they cannot continue such medical treatment; in that case, a certificate attesting to the impossibility must be provided.
Legal Note on Surgery and Registration
What is striking is that the law expressly excludes the requirement of having undergone sex-change surgery in order to proceed with the amendment of the registration. In other words, the legal framework recognizes registry changes based on medical and psychological evidence of gender dysphoria and treatment, without making surgical intervention an absolute prerequisite.
Notes: This text corrects spelling, grammar, and capitalization while preserving the original content and intent. It uses headings, lists, and emphasis to improve readability and SEO relevance for topics such as transsexuality, gender dysphoria, civil registry amendments, and related legal consequences.