The Right to Gender Self-Determination: A Comparative Law Overview

The Thomson Reuters Foundation invited Marval O’Farrell Mairal to represent Argentina in a comparative law research on the right to gender self-determination.

At the request of the Spanish National Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals (FELGTBI+), the goal of this research is to produce a comparative law report that will lay the groundwork for drafting and promoting a gender identity and trans rights bill.

The core of this research lays in providing the FELGTBI+ with full knowledge of the applicable regulatory framework on the existence and exercise of the right to gender self-determination in Argentina, Belgium Canada, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal.

In addition to providing a general overview of the applicable regulatory framework, procedural issues, and other relevant matters, the report also focused on:

• Legal requirements for accessing the right to gender self-determination (i.e., age and other conditions, including progressive access over time).
• Legal regime applicable to minors, including potential differences depending on the minor’s age and other legal grounds
• Recognition and administrative regulations governing the legal ID and documents of non-binary people.
• Legal regime applicable to trans people who are deprived of liberty and to those in sports.

The final report is available to FELGTBI+ for use in the negotiations of the bill in question. Members of Marval O’Farrell Mairal’s Diversity Committee, Pro Bono Team, and other team members collaborated with this report. These collaborators include:

Cecilia Mairal, Martín Bensadon, Macarena García Mirri, Agustina Ranieri, Gonzalo Márquez Alonso de la Barcena, Mariano Morat, Jimena Montoya, Maximiliano Cuello Bratina, Thomas Heilborn, Juan Pazos, María Luz Atala, Juan Ignacio Amado Aranda, María Agustina Canullo, Juan Pablo Lemir Saravia, Gonzalo Javier Fontana and Julia Anabel Sainz.