A senior legal adviser at the EU’s top court has proposed that member states should be obliged to issue identity documents based on a person’s self-declared gender.
The non-binding opinion was issued in response to a case brought to the Court of Justice of the European Union by a Bulgarian transgender individual, whose request to change the gender on their birth certificate was denied under Bulgarian law.
Advocate General Jean Richard de la Tour argued that national rules which do not allow legal gender recognition may violate EU law, particularly the right to free movement. He stated that member states have a duty to recognise “lived gender identity” in official documents.
The opinion has sparked debate, especially in countries like Bulgaria, which does not recognise same-sex marriage or civil unions.
