Legal gender

Legal gender, or legal sex, is a sex or gender that is recognized under the law. Biological sex, sex reassignment and gender identity are used to determine legal gender. The details vary by jurisdiction.

Countries recognising gender self-identification for legal gender; sub-national entities are not marked

History

In European societies, Roman law, post-classical canon law, and later common law, referred to a person's sex as male, female or hermaphrodite, with legal rights as male or female depending on the characteristics that appeared most dominant. Under Roman law, a hermaphrodite had to be classed as either male or female.[1] The 12th-century Decretum Gratiani states that "Whether an hermaphrodite may witness a testament, depends on which sex prevails".[2][3][4] The foundation of common law, the 16th Century Institutes of the Lawes of England, described how a hermaphrodite could inherit "either as male or female, according to that kind of sexe which doth prevaile."[5][6] Legal cases where legal sex was placed in doubt have been described over the centuries.

In 1930, Lili Elbe received sexual reassignment surgery and an ovary transplant and changed her legal gender as female. In 1931, Dora Richter received removal of the penis and vaginoplasty. A few weeks after Lili Elbe had her final surgery including uterus transplant and vaginoplasty. Immune rejection from transplanted uterus caused her death. In May 1933, the Institute for Sexual Research was attacked by Nazis, losing any surviving records about Richter.

After World War II, transgender issues received public attention again. Christine Jorgensen was unable to marry a man because her birth certificate listed her as male. Some transgender people changed their birth certificates, but the validity of these documents were challenged. In the United Kingdom, Sir Ewan Forbes' case recognized the process of legal gender change. However. legal gender change was not recognized in Corbett v Corbett.

Nowadays, many jurisdictions allow transgender individuals to change their legal gender, but some jurisdictions require sterilization, childlessness or an unmarried status for legal gender change. In some cases, sex reassignment surgery is a requirement for legal recognition.[7] The transgender rights movement has promoted legal change in many jurisdictions.

Present views

See also

References
  1. Roller, Lynn E. (1997). "The Ideology of the Eunuch Priest". Gender & History. 9 (3): 542–559. doi:10.1111/1468-0424.00075. S2CID 143133728.
  2. Decretum Gratiani, C. 4, q. 2 et 3, c. 3
  3. "Decretum Gratiani (Kirchenrechtssammlung)". Bayerische StaatsBibliothek (Bavarian State Library). February 5, 2009. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016.
  4. Raming, Ida; Macy, Gary; Bernard J, Cook (2004). A History of Women and Ordination. Scarecrow Press. p. 113.
  5. E Coke, The First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England, Institutes 8.a. (1st Am. Ed. 1812) (16th European ed. 1812).
  6. Greenberg, Julie (1999). "Defining Male and Female: Intersexuality and the Collision Between Law and Biology". Arizona Law Review. 41: 277–278. SSRN 896307.
  7. "S Korean court: Discharge of late transgender soldier unjust". Associated Press. 7 October 2021.
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