Transgender rights in Brazil

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Transgender rights in Brazil include the right to change one's legal name and sex without the need of surgery or professional evaluation, and the right to sex reassignment surgery provided by Brazil's public health service, the Sistema Único de Saúde.

Gender recognition[]

History[]

Since 2009[]

Changing legal gender assignment in Brazil is legal according to the Superior Court of Justice of Brazil, as stated in a decision rendered on October 17, 2009.[1]

Unanimously, the 3rd Class of the Superior Court of Justice approved allowing the option of name and gender change on the birth certificate of a transgender person who has undergone sex reassignment surgery.

The understanding of the ministers was that it made no sense to allow people to have such surgery performed in the free federal health system and not allow them to change their name and gender in the civil registry.[2]

The ministers followed the vote of the rapporteur, Nancy Andrighi, who argued that "if Brazil consents to the possibility of surgery, it should also provide the means for the individual to have a decent life in society". In the opinion of the rapporteur, preventing the record change for a transgender person who has gone through sex reassignment surgery could constitute a new form of social prejudice, and cause more psychological instability.[3] She explained:

"The issue is delicate. At the beginning of compulsory civil registry, distinction between the two sexes was determined according to the genitalia. Today there are other influential factors, and that identification can no longer be limited to the apparent sex. There is a set of social, psychological problems that must be considered. Vetoing this exchange would be putting the person in an untenable position, subject to anxieties, uncertainty, and more conflict."[4]

According to Minister  [pt] of the Superior Court of Justice, transgender people should have their social integration ensured with respect to their dignity, autonomy, intimacy and privacy, which must therefore incorporate their civil registry.[5]

Laws concerning gender identity-expression by country or territory
  Legal identity change, surgery not required
  Legal identity change, surgery required
  No legal identity change
  Unknown/Ambiguous

Since 2018[]

The Supreme Federal Court ruled on March 1, 2018, that a transgender person has the right to change their official name and sex without the need of surgery or professional evaluation, just by self-declaration of their psychosocial identity. On June 29, the Corregedoria Nacional de Justiça, a body of the National Justice Council published the rules to be followed by registry offices concerning the subject.[6]

Gender confirmation surgery[]

In 2008, Brazil's public health system started providing free sex reassignment surgery in compliance with a court order. Federal prosecutors had argued that gender confirmation surgery was covered under a constitutional clause guaranteeing medical care as a basic right.[7]

The Regional Federal Court agreed, saying in its ruling:

"from the biomedical perspective, transsexuality can be described as a sexual identity disturbance where individuals need to change their sexual designation or face serious consequences in their lives, including intense suffering, mutilation and suicide."

Patients must be at least 18 years old and diagnosed as transgender with no personality disorders, and must undergo psychological evaluation with a multidisciplinary team for at least two years, begins with 16 years old. The national average is of 100 surgeries per year, according to the Ministry of Health of Brazil.[8]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Transgenders can change their name, as decided by the Supreme Court of Justice (in Portuguese)
  2. ^ Gender reassignment surgery is free in Brazil (in Portuguese)
  3. ^ Jurisprudence of the Changing legal gender assignment in Brazil by Superior Court (in Portuguese)
  4. ^ The Superior Court of Justice allows transsexuals to change name and sex on birth certificate (in Portuguese)
  5. ^ Legal change of name in Brazil (in Portuguese) Archived December 23, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Transexuals can now change their names in documents at registry offices throughout the country (in Portuguese)
  7. ^ Sex-change in Brazil (in Portuguese)
  8. ^ "Brazil to provide free sex-change operations (in English)". Archived from the original on 2013-04-24. Retrieved 2013-04-23. Brazil to provide free sex-change operations (in English)
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