From 2022 Switzerland will allow trans people to legally change gender through self-identification

Switzerland is following in the footsteps of Norway, Belgium, Portugal and Ireland by passing the law to gender self-identification, meaning people can legally change their gender and name through self-declaration at a civil registry office.

This will U-turn current Swiss law, which can require people to undergo hormone therapy, psychiatric evaluation and a confirmation certificate from a medical professional, or get approval through the courts. 

In addition, the introduction of Self-ID has the potential to save people wishing to undergo the process thousands in administrative fees, taking the cost down to just 75 CHF (approx. £60.83/ $81.74).

Under the new laws, anyone aged 16 and above, who is not under legal guardianship, will be able to adjust their gender and legal name, while under 16’s and people under adult protection will require guardian consent.

According to reports by Reuters, some cantons – semi-autonomous regions in federal Switzerland – will also set a requirement that a person to undergoes hormone treatment or an anatomical transition in order to legally change gender, while, for a name change, they may require you to prove that the new name has unofficially been in use for several years. 

Switzerland, long known as socially conservative on the whole, held a history-making referendum back in September and voted to legalise civil marriage and the right to adopt children for same-sex couples, making them one of the last countries in Western Europe to implement those laws. 

The change in law, which helps put Switzerland at the forefront of Europe’s gender self-identification movement, comes into place from January 1.