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Argentina Passes Comprehensive Transgender Rights Law

Argentina Passes Comprehensive Transgender Rights Law

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The law passed 55-0 in the Senate, and the president is expected to sign it.

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Argentina's Senate has overwhelmingly passed a sweeping transgender rights bill, and President Cristina Fernandez is expected to sign it into law.

The measure, passed Wednesday, allows people whose gender identity does not match their physical characteristics to change their name and gender marker on public documents without having undergone gender-reassignment surgery and without approval from a doctor or judge, the Associated Press reports. It also assures that those who want surgery or hormone therapy will have insurance coverage for it with no extra premium, through both public and private plans.

The vote was 55-0, with one senator abstaining and more than a dozen declaring themselves absent.

The law will give transgender people in Argentina more freedom than they have in many U.S. states, some of which require proof of surgery for changing the gender marker on, for instance, a driver's license. "This gives the individual an extraordinary amount of authority for how they want to live," Stanford University professor Katrina Karkazis, who has written extensively on issues of gender identity, told the AP. "It's really incredible."

The National Center for Transgender Equality notes in a blog post that the law "reflects the hard work of trans and LGBT advocates in Argentina as well as the growing trend of recognition for trans people's identities and medical needs internationally." In 2009, Uruguay adopted a similarly broad gender identity law.

Argentina has been a pioneer for LGBT rights in its region in other ways, two years ago becoming the first Latin American nation to approve same-sex marriage.

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.