El Salvador: LGBTIQ+ Population Asks for a Law on Identity

El Salvador's Congress has been asked to rule on a law of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court based on gender identity, allowing the change of name for transgender people.

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Six humanitarian organizations on Friday called on El Salvador's Congress to comply with a ruling by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court that orders the change of name based on gender identity. "We ask this body (Congress) to immediately comply with the ruling of the Constitutional Chamber and issue a law for the change of name, an adaptation of the image and rectification of the reference of sex and gender in the documents," said the organizations during a press release.

They stated that the regulation should be based on "self-perceived" identity, without demanding requirements as medical certifications, and under privacy. Comunicando y Capacitando Trans (Comcavis Trans) and the Fundación de Estudios para la Aplicación del Derecho (Fespad), which are among the 6 organizations, decree they are willing to have a contact meeting with deputies in order to rule a law which fits with the LGBTIQ+ population.

"The Legislative Assembly must issue the necessary reform to provide for the conditions that must be met by any person who wishes to change their name to be compatible with their gender identity," reads the ruling posted by the organization Comunicando y Capacitando Trans (Comcavis Trans) on Twitter. The collective noted that once passed the law, it "will change the reality of trans people in El Salvador."

 El Salvador LGBTIQ+ organizations demand that deputies pass a law that recognizes and protects the right to a name of trans people.

A group of organizations presented a proposal on August 2021 to update a gender identity law after the Women's Commission of Congress had sent the first initiative of 2018 to the archive. The constitutional magistrates gave deputies a year to rule the Law on the Name of the Natural Person.

A resolution decreed that "in a general and obligatory manner" was unconstitutional after the omission of paragraph 2 of article 23 of the legislation above. "The lack of regulation of the assumptions and conditions for a human being to change his or her name for reasons of gender identity constitutes unjustified discriminatory treatment," reads the resolution, in which full content remains unknown.