Cuba Approves Landmark Legal Gender Change

In a major win for Cuba’s LGBTQ+’s community, the country’s parliament approved a new law that grants people the right to legally change their gender.

The Civil Registration Law does not require “a previous modification of appearance” or gender-affirming surgery. Individuals can use the law to change their gender twice, as long as the first time happened when the person was a minor.

In recent years, Cuba has been a trailblazer for LGBTIQ+ rights in the region. The 2019 Constitution and the 2022 Family Code legalized same-sex marriage and adoption.

Until now, it was near impossible for people to change their sex without a gender-affirming surgery. Until 2022, trans people could not legally change their name unless the new name corresponded to their legal gender. That provision was revoked in 2022, but the process remained long and difficult, according to trans activists.

Cuba’s first gender-affirming surgery occurred in 1988, and they became common in the late 2000s. But none have been performed in recent years as Cuba’s public hospitals have been forced to stop many surgeries due to the country’s economic crisis.