The EU’s top court rules that member states must issue ID documents respecting a transgender person’s chosen gender, overriding conflicting national laws.
SOFIA: European Union member states must issue identity documents to transgender citizens that reflect their chosen gender, the bloc’s highest court ruled on Thursday.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) made the landmark ruling in response to a case where Bulgaria refused to issue a passport recognising a national’s wish to be defined as a woman.
The court stated that EU law, which enables transgender people to change their status on ID documents, takes precedence over any contradictory national legislation.
“Member state legislation which does not permit the amendment of the gender data of one of its nationals who has exercised his or her right to freedom of movement is contrary to EU law,” the CJEU said in a statement.
The complainant, who initiated her legal challenge in Bulgaria in 2017, welcomed the decision as a personal victory.
“This decision will finally allow me to have a Bulgarian passport that respects what I have always been since I can remember, since my childhood — a woman,” she said.
She added that the formal step would allow her to live and work in Italy without facing discrimination, according to a statement issued by her lawyer Alexander Schuster.
Dozens of similar cases currently on hold in Bulgaria were awaiting this EU top court decision.
Schuster noted that the ruling also applies to other EU members like Hungary and Slovakia, which similarly refuse to grant transgender people documents reflecting their identity.
