TRANS DAY OF VISIBILITY: ILGA WORLD LAUNCHES TOOLKIT TO SUPPORT ADVOCACY AROUND LEGAL GENDER RECOGNITION

Defined as the processes by which a person can change their legal documentation and identity papers to match their correct gender identityrefers to a person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth. More, legal gender recognitionlaws, administrative procedures or processes by which a person can change their sex/gender marker and names on official identity documents. More is – for many people worldwide – a vital means of affirmation of who they really are, with concrete impacts on their daily lives.

“We created the Towards Transadjective/umbrella term to describe a person whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. More Liberation: Advocacy for Legal Genderrefers to a social construct which places cultural and social expectations on individuals based on their assigned sex. More Recognition toolkit around conversations on visibility, with and beyond legal gender recognition,” said Tristán López Aguilar, co-author of the report. “We not only want visibility, but liberation: legal gender recognition is the first crucial step into a broader set of rights that enable us trans people to live good and fulfilling lives.”

Download Towards Trans Liberation: Advocacy for Legal Gender Recognition
in English – in Spanish

Cartoon animations of people constructing a billboard with the caption “Towards Trans Liberation, Advocacy for legal gender recognition”, and the words “A toolkit for human rights defenders” at the bottom left corner

Co-authored by Chamindra Weerawardhana and Tristán López Aguilar with the contributions and illustrations of Shalaka Pai, Towards Trans Liberation: Advocacy for Legal Gender Recognition builds on historic research work done by ILGA World: since 2016, the organisation has been releasing its Trans Legal Mapping Report, which documents provisions setting out how trans and gender-diverse people can change their sexrefers to the classification of a person as male, female, or other - usually made at birth, written on a birth certificate, and usually based on the appearance of their external anatomy. A person’s sex, however, is actually a combination of bodily characteristics, including chromosomes, hormones, internal and external reproductive organs, and secondary sex characteristics. More/gender marker and names on official identity documents. In its latest edition, the report also collected information on laws criminalising trans identities in every region of the world: as of September 2020, at least 13 UN member States worldwide explicitly criminalised trans persons, although a much wider range of laws is still used to target them in many more countries.

The current toolkit now aims to expand on that research – which remains the most comprehensive international publication on the topic to date – and to make it more accessible to trans human rights defenders and communities at large, helping them identify gaps in the current state of legal gender recognition in their country, and offering guidance to build a concrete advocacy roadmap.

Created by trans human rights defenders with a strong Global South perspective, Towards Trans Liberation: Advocacy for Legal Gender Recognition will help activists better understand data around legal gender recognition and use community-focused research to strengthen international advocacy – especially with United Nationsan international organisation comprising 193 member States. It has the mission of maintaining peace and security, protecting human rights, providing humanitarian aid and ensuring economic and social development across the globe. It is a network of many different bodies and agencies, each of which has a particular role and responsibility. More bodies. Furthermore, it references other toolkits about communication, UN advocacy, and more, helping activists to build broader, comprehensive strategies.

“The toolkit was created with a strong ‘By us, and for us’ approach,” comments Chamindra Weerawardhana, co-author and coordinator of the report, and a consultant with ILGA World’s Gender Identity & Expression and Sex Characteristicsa term that refers to physical features relating to sex - including genitalia and other sexual and reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, hormones, and secondary physical features emerging from puberty. More Programme. “It is intended to be a useful publication to trans human rights defenders worldwide, rooted in the long tradition of an advocacy that is locally-grounded and serves the best interests of our communities.”