This is an area where our U.S. lawmakers can definitely take a cue from Argentina to increase the freedom of humans to live as they want to. Argentina has recently passed an incredible law that allows:
- Change in gender identification without accompanying physical changes
- Ability to change gender, image and birth name without needing to undergo physical changes and approval from doctors or judges
- “Obligatory Medical Plan” where healthcare companies would have to provide for sex-change surgery and/or hormonal therapy on demand
However, in places like U.S. gender change is mandatorily accompanied by physical changes which are often painful and irreversible. The law in Argentina now makes it possible for people to change their official identities without being forced to undergo genital surgery or hormone therapy. This allows a person to reverse his/her identity at will if his/her self-image changes. Allowing a change in official and public identity without accompanying mandatory genital change is benign and allows a person to reflect his/her changing self-identity without pain across the length of his/her life.
Karkazis said that there is not going to be any significant burden of the Argentine national exchequer due to rising demands in sex change accompanying the law. She said, “This isn't going to create a huge demand on the national health system for these procedures. They're difficult, painful, irreversible. And this is why many people don't do it.”
Senator Osvaldo Lopes, the only openly gay national lawmaker in Argentina said, “This law is going to enable many of us to have light, to come out of the darkness, to appear … There many people in our country who also deserve the power to exist.”
How about having such a law in U.S?
