Slovakia may make it Impossible for Transgender People to change their Gender on Documents

The Slovak parliament is expected to vote soon on a bill that will make it impossible for transgender people to change their gender in official documents, Reuters reported, citing BTA.

The proposal, which passed first reading in March, would only allow a gender change on documents based on a genetic test that shows the gender has been misassigned, thus blocking transgender people from making such a change.

The vote comes as Slovakia faces snap elections in September amid political turmoil. A caretaker government was appointed this week.

Transgender people can currently change their names and surnames, which in Slovak have different endings for men and women, on their identity cards, as well as their gender and the number they are given after birth. Under the amendment, transgender people will still be able to change their names, but not other details.

"A person ... will have, for example, a male gender on their documents, but at the same time they will still be able to change their first and last name to female," said Martin Macko, executive director of the Diversity Initiative (Iniciativa Inakost), a civil an organization that protects the rights of the LGBT community.

"It will be a modern day Jewish star... They can be identified in documents, for example by employers. This, of course, is absolutely unacceptable."

Slovakia's constitution only recognizes marriage between a man and a woman.

The final vote on the bill, which was supported by 87 out of 150 votes in the first reading, could take place by next week. The approval could trigger a veto by Slovak President Zuzana Caputova, likely blocking a re-vote until the election.

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic urged MPs last month to reject the change.

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