Experts in the Czech Republic recommend significant changes to officially changing one’s gender. A roundtable discussion in the Chamber of Deputies suggested that a personal declaration before the registrar should be sufficient for a legal gender change. This comes as the Constitutional Court has ruled that people seeking to change their gender will no longer need to undergo sterilization from mid-next year.
The Constitutional Court’s decision in May of this year means that a surgical procedure involving sterilization and changing of sexual organs, as currently required by law, will no longer be needed for an official change of gender. Lawmakers have until June 30, next year, to align Czech laws with the Constitutional Court’s decision.
Sexologist Pavel Turčan first described the current state of official gender change. He highlighted that there is no requirement for a change of sexual organs. Turčan welcomes the Constitutional Court’s decision to abolish the requirement for surgical intervention.
Libor Zámečník, a urologist, andrologist, and sexologist, speaking as a representative of the Czech Society for Sexual Medicine, recommended that a personal declaration before the registrar should be sufficient for an official gender change. Like Turčan, Zámečník recommends self-declaration without the involvement of the healthcare system.
However, Radek Policar, a legal expert from the Ministry of Health, pointed out that the Constitutional Court gives lawmakers broader possibilities to deal with an official change of gender than just the mentioned self-declaration. For example, the court mentioned diagnostic reports from several independent sexologists. As a result, individuals would have to prove that they suffer permanently from living in a different body.