Identification documents must reflect a person’s “lived gender” instead of their biological sex, the European Court of Justice has ruled
EU member countries are required to update the gender information on identification documents for citizens who have undergone a sex change, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has decided.
For transgender people in the EU, their documents must show their “lived gender” rather than biological sex, the Luxembourg-based court stated on Thursday.
The CJEU was ruling on a 2017 case referred to it by Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation, which wanted to know if the country had to change the birth certificate of a Bulgarian man who began hormone therapy to live as a woman after moving to Italy.
Sofia’s authorities had previously turned down the request, citing that Bulgarian law interprets “sex” strictly as a biological concept.
CJEU judges found that a state’s unwillingness to update a transgender citizen’s ID after they exercised their right to live in another EU country can block freedom of movement and violate the right to private life.
The EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights “protects gender identity and requires Member States to put in place clear, accessible and effective procedures for its legal recognition,” the ruling said.
“Member state laws that do not allow updating the gender data of a national who has used their freedom of movement right go against EU law,” the ruling stressed.
LGBTQ activists welcomed the decision, with Denitsa Lyubenova — a lawyer who chairs the Deystvie Association — saying it “opens a door for our community to cite this exact judgment, use EU law and travel freely within the EU.”
The ILGA-Europe advocacy group has called on the European Commission to use the judgment to act against Hungary and Slovakia, which also only recognize two genders: male and female.
Russia — which has taken steps to promote traditional values — banned legal and medical “gender transitions” in 2023 except for serious medical cases. Last year, Moscow also made it illegal for people living in countries that allow gender-reassignment procedures to adopt children. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the West is engaged in what he calls “gender terrorism.”