Uruguay: The law that benefits Trans has already been approved
Uruguay makes an important legislative advance for the Trans population. What has happened in other Latin countries?
The "Integral Law for Trans Persons", which was presented in June 2017 by the government of Uruguay, of the Frente Amplio party, has been approved by the Uruguayan Parliament.
Leer en español: Uruguay: La ley que beneficia a los Trans ya fue aprobada
The Law, in agreement with the Ministry of Social Development of Uruguay, consists in achieving the full exercise of the rights of Trans people in Uruguay. This is based on some existing problems such as discrimination, stigmatization, state and social violence against Trans people.
"The strong daily harassment of teachers, civil servants and colleagues who face transgender people in educational centers, generating that 75% have dropped out of their studies, 60% have the basic cycle incomplete, and that age average dropout rate in the education system is 14 years; the discrimination suffered by transgender people in their own family, triggered by the process and development of gender identity change, which causes their expulsion and early disengagement from the home in 25% of the situations surveyed. "
Likewise, the First National Census of Trans Persons, held in 2016, revealed another reason that prompted the Law: seven of every ten Trans had to prostitute themselves due to lack of job opportunities, one-third of the 873 people surveyed, I found no work.
Among the benefits that will be with the law approved by the Parliament of Uruguay, is the economic reparation to Trans women who were victims of harassment and repression by state agents during the dictatorship from 1973 to 1989. As highlighted by The New York Times, Uruguay will be the first country in the region to make such reparation.
This serves as an example for countries that lived a dictatorship and have not yet repaired their victims – not members of the transsexual population – as is the case in Brazil. In addition to the families of those who died at the hands of the military in State crimes, because according to Semana magazine, none has been prosecuted because it is not known who they are. The military archives with which they could have investigated the perpetrators are kept secret, "while the most important were burned in secret at the Bahia State Air Base in 2004."
Job opportunities for the transgender population, inclusion in the housing, education and health programs, as well as the incorporation of the variable "gender identity" in all the official statistical information systems, including the Censuses, the Continuous Household Surveys , the reports of the National Office of Civil Service and all the public measurements that reveal the variable "sex", are some of the important advances that will be executed with the "Integral Law for Trans Persons", which has a term of 90 days to implemented, according to the Ministry of Social Development of Uruguay.
Read also: Colombia: Constitutional Court said "no" to limit abortion
The panorama for the Trans population in other countries
An Amnesty International report from 2017 reveals that in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico there are laws that recognize the right to identity of Trans people. "They have laws that recognize the right to identity, with the issuance of a new birth certificate without the need for genital operations," says Amnesty International.
In Argentina, the Law 26,743 of 2012 of gender identity allows Trans people "to be registered in their personal documents with the name and gender of choice and also includes the need for protection of transgender children and adolescents", highlights the organization's report. Similar to Argentina occurs in Bolivia, but with Law 807 of 2016.
In June 2015, presidential decree 1227 was approved in Colombia allowing the Trans population to change their name and gender in all their documentation.
Ecuador, according to the aforementioned organization, proposed in 2016 the Organic Law of Identity and Civil Data Management in which trans people can make the "change of name and omit or change the information of" sex "for that of" gender" in the National Identity Document (DNI)".
Finally, Mexico, also in 2016, achieved through reforms to the Civil Code of the Federal District, the Code of Civil Procedures for the Federal District and the Regulation of the Civil Registry of the Federal District that Trans people can make the change of their identity of gender in all its documents.
The panorama, for now, leaves Uruguay standing in terms of laws for the Trans community, being an example of progress for Latin America. The outlook for Mexico could be very encouraging with the arrival of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has recognized the diversity of his country and will work to protect and strengthen it.
LatinAmerican Post | Edwin Guerrero Nova
Translated from: 'Uruguay: ¡La ley que beneficia a los trans ya fue aprobada!'
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