FELGTB demands that non-binary people should be able to have their identity recognised in their official documentation
- FELGTB demands that the draft Trans Law, presented by the Council of Ministers should guarantee them access to a change of gender registration on equal terms with other trans people.
(07/13/2021) .- On the occasion of the International Day of Non-Binary Visibility, which is commemorated this Wednesday, July 14th, the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Trans and Bisexuals (FELGTB) demands that non-binary people can have their identity recognised in their official documentation through a third box that reflects the non-binary gender. Thus, it demands that the future Trans Law guarantees, after its approval, that these people can access the change of registration under equal terms to the rest of the trans population.
Aarón Rodríguez, spokesperson for FELGTB’s Trans Group, explains that non-binary people are people who stand outside the male-female dichotomy. “We want to be able to explore our identity beyond the social barriers that are imposed on us and that prevent us from developing fully,” he argues. “We are not an invention of young people or a collective that doesn’t know what else to invent. We are people who simply don’t fit into the norm. Today we raise our voices to demand our existence and that the society of which we are part of recognises us, as it does with other identities and as nine countries already do ”, he claims.
As he explains, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Argentina, Malta, Pakistan, Germany and the US state of California have been offering a third gender option for non-binary people for years. “We are not demanding this recognition on a whim, we do it for our physical and mental health,” he warns.
He also recalls that both the UN and the European Union, through its Strategy for Equality of LGTBI People 2020-2025, defend that States must guarantee the right of non-binary people to have their identity recognised. Futhermore, the European Commission has invited Member States to put in place “accessible legislation and procedures for the legal recognition of the gender of trans and non-binary people”.
According to Rodríguez, the lack of social and legal recognition generates discriminatory and violent situations for non-binary people in their day to day lives that result in profound discomfort. “We see our very existence questioned, day after day, in our family, on the street, on social networks and in the media. Faced with this situation, we can only adopt two positions: either make ourselves visible and claim our existence, which means constantly vindicating ourselves, explaining ourselves and coming out of the closet, because society reads us as men or women, or hiding our identity, with all the negative implications that this entails ”, he explains.
Thus, it alerts that non-binary people are currently in a situation of complete helplessness. “We only ask that the society in which we already live guarantee our equality before the law. We demand that our freedom to be who we are and to express ourselves be respected. We are not second-class trans people, we have the same rights as the rest and, consequently, we demand that they also be insured by law, ”he claims.
