(Quebec) Criticized for having proposed a “transphobic” measure, Simon Jolin-Barrette backs off and promises to withdraw from Bill 2 the obligation to undergo genital surgery to change the sex designation on civil status documents .
This government proposal has raised significant criticism in recent weeks from the trans community, who denounced that the measure took them back years. Barely tabled, the provisions of the bill created a wave of calls for help from organizations offering support to the LGBTQ + community. At Interligne (formerly Gai Écoute), the crisis line was in particular inundated with calls from trans people and members of their families in distress.
In a written statement sent to Press, the Minister of Justice confirms what he said on Tuesday in an interview with the To have to concerning this change of course.
“We want to reassure the community. We are listening and we have heard the concerns raised. We are at work to find a passage that will allow both to respond to the judgment and to resolve the concerns. We are thus confirming that the operation obligation to modify the sex designation will be withdrawn from the bill, ”said Mr. Jolin-Barrette.
” [Notre] The objective has always been to respond to a judgment of the Superior Court and to better reflect the realities of LGBTQ families. We never intended to complicate the process of affirming trans people, ”he added.
In the initial Bill 2, which will eventually be amended, Quebec planned to modify the conditions required to obtain a change in the designation of sex on civil status documents by asking in the future that the request be “accompanied by ‘a certificate from the attending physician confirming that the medical treatments and surgeries undergone lead to the conclusion of a structural modification of the sexual organs which have permanently changed their apparent sexual characteristics ”.
For trans people, many of whom do not have genital surgery, this aspect of the bill was a major setback, when they no longer had this medical obligation to change the sex designation since 2015.
In its reform, Quebec also planned to distinguish between sex and gender on civil status documents, thus allowing citizens who request it to enter a “gender identity”, female, male or not, on their birth certificate. binary. Groups denounced that this proposal led to a coming out forced, since only trans and non-binary people would ask to have this new gender identity in their documents.
Simon Jolin-Barrette affirmed Tuesday that “the bill is in no way intended to force the coming out of anyone ”and that he will“ ensure, with the solution that will be developed, that this is not the case ”. The details of these changes to the bill will be released by the government during the detailed study in parliamentary committee later this fall.