Bolivia law allows transgender individuals to officially change their gender on their national identity cards

Record ID: 102930

  • Title: Bolivia law allows transgender individuals to officially change their gender on their national identity cards
  • Date: 19th May 2016
  • Summary: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (MAY 19, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF THE PLURINATIONAL LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER (LGBT) COMMUNITY CELEBRATING ADOPTION OF LAW (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) REPRESENTATIVE OF BOLIVIA'S LGBT COLLECTIVE, ANTONELLA CRUZ, SAYING: "We were born being women although we have male genitalia. This law is simply to give us the rights we have been denied. That law will favour us now and for future generations so that we can finally exercise our full rights as human beings." GATHERED MEDIA MORE OF MEMBERS OF THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER (LGBT) COMMUNITY CELEBRATING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA'S LGBT COLLECTIVE, DAVID PEREZ, SAYING: "We are very happy because at 1:30 in the morning the Chamber of Deputies approved the Gender Identity law. This law of gender identity compensates rights to the transsexual and transvestite population of our country. It's an important event and for us it's not the end but the beginning of a new process to reshape society, labour rights, political, citizen, health, housing rights that the trans population has historically been excluded from."
  • Embargoed: 3rd June 2016 19:01
  • Keywords: Bolivia transgender law change sex ID cards
  • Location: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
  • City: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
  • Country: Bolivia
  • Topics: Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014IH5KJN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Bolivia's Plurinational Legislative Assembly passed a law on Thursday (May 19) which allows transgender individuals in the Andean country to be able to legally change their name, sex and gender on their identity cards.
    The new law will allow trans Bolivians - over the age of 18 - to register legal documentation using their new identities.
    A representative of Bolivia's LGBT collective, Antonella Cruz, said the new law would give them rights which have been denied to them in the past.
    "We were born being women although we have male genitalia. This law is simply to give us the rights we have been denied. That law will favour us now and for future generations so that we can finally exercise our full rights as human beings," Cruz said.
    First suggested five years ago, the law is seen as a huge victory for the trans community of the country, who have faced increased discrimination in recent years.
    In an unprecedented move in Bolivia, the bill which was presented in late November 2015 by the Ministry of Justice, was approved at dawn.
    David Perez, representing the LGBT Collective (Trans, Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual) of Bolivia, said they were very happy with the news.
    "We are very happy because at 1:30 in the morning the Chamber of Deputies approved the Gender Identity law. This law of gender identity compensates rights to the transsexual and transvestite population of our country. It's an important event and for us it's not the end but the beginning of a new process to reshape society, labour rights, political, citizen, health, housing rights that the trans population has historically been excluded from," Perez said.
    Local media reported the law will benefit at least 150 thousand people associated within different LGBT groups.
    Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) legislator, Manuel Canelas, spoke of the importance of the law.
    "Any law that extends rights is an important law. With the approval of this law, we will not remove rights from anyone. Simply, citizens who did not have them, who did not have them guaranteed, now will. It essentially means the regulation of a procedure and that the new gender identity law is recognised at state level," Canelas said.
    The law will now need to be confirmed by the Senate before it is signed into effect by Bolivian President Evo Morales, local media reported.
    For years, LGBT people have remained in the shadows of a country that largely remains uneasy with the idea.
    In 2010, seven homosexuals were killed because of their sexual orientation, highlighting the struggles activists and the community as a whole face here.
    The approval of this law in the South American country is sign of progress for the trans community and gives them hope to drive forward.
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