Starting Monday, transsexuals will be
allowed to alter their name and sex on identity documents in Mexico
City, reports the Spanish news agency EFE.
Transgender men and women wishing to
alter their identity will need to provide a birth certificate and
proof of their altered sex. Documentation consists of a report
issued by two specialists certifying a sex change – whether or not
that involves surgery.
Mexico City Assemblyman Jorge Carlos
Diaz Cuervo, of the Alternative Social Democrat party, supports the
initiative. He told EFE that the measure will lower discrimination
against transgender people.
Mexico City's left-leaning assembly
approved a controversial gay civil unions measure in 2006.
Criticized by the Catholic Church and conservative groups in the
country, the law does little more than offer estate planning for gays
and lesbians who register with civil authorities.
The first gay couple to register their
union was journalist Antonio Medina and economist Jorge Cerpa.
Mexican citizens who have begun or are in
the process of “[sexual] reclassification” and are interested in altering
their name and sex on identity documents such as birth certificates
should make their request at one of the 42 family courts in the city.
The law will apply only to residents of
Mexico City, one of the most populous cities in the world with 8.7
million residents.