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Date Published: 03/03/2023

ARCHIVED - First person in Spain changes their sex under the new trans law

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Problems have been reported in Civil Registry offices across Spain, with staff unsure how to apply the legislation

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - First person in Spain changes their sex under the new trans law

Lucía, a 20-year-old originally from the Canary Islands, has become the first person to officially change her sex on the Civil Registry this week after the trans law came into effect on February 16. Under the new legislation, teenagers aged 16 and older can change the gender on their passports and other ID documents, no questions asked.

Although huge delays have been reported in offices up and down the country as staff come to grips with the process, for Lucía, the procedure in Madrid, where she is studying, was a painless one and only took a few minutes.

She explained that she took along her Padrón, birth certificate and DNI, Registry staff gave her a simple form to fill out and it was all done and dusted in no time.

"They gave them to me right away, they were very prepared," she said, before joking: "They must have studied all night, like me."

Unfortunately, many other trans people are not having such a pleasant experience and the Independent Trade Union and Officials Centre (CSIF) has openly criticised the lack of information supplied to Registry staff by the Ministry of Equality.

"There are no forms and they are processing as best they can given the circumstances," a union spokesperson said, explaining that on Wednesday, offices across Spain received a memo with "minimum information."

The Ministry has assured that more detailed instructions will be sent out ASAP, but the “very complex law” is already in force and trans individuals are flocking to their Civil Registry offices to change their documents.

But for Lucía at least, this “very important day” went off without a hitch. She will now have to wait a little over two months before returning to the Madrid centre to ratify her decision. After that, the administration will have a month to rule on the decision and if approved, her sex will be changed to female on all official papers.

In other news: German tourists infected with dengue fever in Ibiza

Image: Registro Civil de Madrid

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