Gender self-determination has already been possible in Denmark since 2014. It is now possible in Spain from the age of 16. In France, if such a law is passed, it could affect up to 60,000 people who are currently living “a real obstacle course to assert their identity”, according to the association “En avant tout(s)”.
The change in legislation on transidentity decided on Thursday February 15 in Spain is “a rather interesting initiative”, reacts Friday, February 16 on franceinfo Louise Delavier, director of programs for the association “En avant tout (s)”, which fights among other things for the end of violence against transgender people. Spanish deputies passed a law on Thursday allowing people to change gender on their identity papers via a simple administrative declaration from the age of 16.
franceinfo: What is your reaction to the passing of this law?
Louise Delavier: This is a rather interesting initiative, which we can perhaps even salute. We, what we see on the ground, is that when you are transgender, in France, it is a real obstacle course to affirm your identity. It is not easy to have it recognized, sometimes by relatives, sometimes even by society, by school, etc. In Spain, they have chosen to facilitate these procedures which are still very complicated on this side of the border.
How many transgender people are there in France?
It is estimated that there are between 15,000 and 20,000, perhaps 60,000 trans people in France. This therefore represents between 0.02 and 0.03% of the population.
In concrete terms, how does Spanish legislation now differ from French legislation?
In France, when you want to declare to the State that you are changing gender, you can do several things. You can already, for example, ask to change your first name. This is often the first step. To do so, you have to go to the town hall. The top step is the change of sex in civil status. It is done at the high court and it requires a whole lot of fairly heavy evidence to produce. In both cases, it is people who decide whether or not you have the right to change gender. In Spain, it is now up to the people to decide for themselves.
Should this text be transposed in France?
This is a question that we can ask ourselves collectively. What is interesting is that it would allow the State to say “we are on that side”, and to open the debate on this question which still remains very tense today. Transgender people still experience a lot of violence. There are sociological studies that show that 85% of them will experience aggression in their lifetime. There is still a lot of ridicule and discrimination. There is still a lot of violence, sometimes even within families.
This law also allows children under the age of 16 to freely change gender, but under conditions. 14-16 year olds need the consent of their legal guardians. The other age group concerned, 12-14 year olds, must get the green light from the courts. At these ages, are we ready to ask for a gender change?
When we take this debate a little quickly, we have the impression that all the young people who wonder one day about their gender identity will rush to town hall to take steps that would be irreversible. This is not really the observation that we make in view of the exchanges we have on our chat. On the contrary, we see that these are processes that are often quite long, that require a lot of thought. Often, when it comes to the stage of the process, it is because the young person feels sufficiently sure of himself to be able to carry it out. We also have to trust young people to ask themselves these questions. This Spanish law does not oblige young people who are transgender to take these steps. Rather, it is a law that opens up freedoms, that opens up possibilities.