The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) determined last Tuesday, 09th, that transsexuals can change their ID name even without having gone through the sex reassignment process. The understanding of the fourth panel of the STJ was based on the request of a trans woman who had requested to change her social name on her document. “The right of transsexuals to rectify their registration cannot be conditioned on the performance of surgery, which may even be unfeasible from a financial point of view or due to medical impediment”, says the STJ. “In the request for rectification of the record, the author stated that, despite not having undergone the transgenitalization operation, she underwent hormonal and surgical interventions to adapt her physical appearance to the psychic reality, which generated an evident dissonance between her image and the data contained of civil settlement”, continues the text. According to the case's rapporteur, Luis Felipe Salomão, the law provides for “the possibility of changing the name” in cases that could cause “a vexatious situation or social degradation, such as names that clash with the individual's physical appearance”. The minister continues by claiming that this decision, although not sufficient to guarantee the security and maintenance of the dignity of this niche, is valid to ensure “the right to identity, non-discrimination and the fundamental right to happiness”. The text also states that the change “must be made in the original birth certificate with the indication of the judicial determination, prohibiting the inclusion, even if confidential, of the expression 'transsexual', biological sex or the reasons for the registration changes”.
