New ECJ ruling:

Transpersons do not have to provide proof of surgery

Transpersons do not have to provide proof of gender reassignment surgery in order to have their gender entry changed. This has now been decided by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). It is an individual right to be able to correct personal data.

The case concerned a refugee from Iran who was granted protection status in Hungary due to her trans identity. The ECJ reported that the refugee had to provide psychiatric and gynecological certificates. According to these, the person was born as a woman but had a male gender identity. 

The authorities listed the person as a woman and refused to change the entry. The reason given was that there had been no gender reassignment surgery. The person then went to court, which referred the matter to the European Court of Justice.

The Hungarian court pointed out that there was no national regulation for the recognition of trans identity. The ECJ came to the conclusion that this should not be a reason to deny people the correction of personal data. Trans people or transgender people are people who do not feel that they belong to their biological gender.