Basque court allows name change for transgender four-year-old

A court in the Basque Country has allowed a name change for a four-year-old child who was born a boy but who feels like a girl and wants to be addressed as such.

Officially registered at birth as Luken, the child¡¯s name will now be changed to Luc¨ªa.

Everyone in the small village of Asteasu (in Gipuzkoa province), had already been calling the child Luc¨ªa, even at school.

Forty minors have formally requested a name change in Spain for similar reasons, and 30 have achieved it

The decision by a Tolosa court is the second such case in the Basque Country. In 2013, a court in Vitoria ruled similarly.

The judge based his decision on the need to ¡°adjust Luken¡¯s social reality to his reality on the records,¡± and also on the fact that there is a medical report certifying that the minor suffers from gender identity disorder.

An association of families with transgender children, Chrysallis, announced the Tolosa court¡¯s decision in a press release.

¡°Lucia was erroneously given a boy¡¯s name based on her genitals, but as soon as she was able to express herself, she began manifesting that she was a girl,¡± reads the statement.

The medical report states that there is ¡°a discordance between the morphological or physiological gender initially accredited in the records and the gender identity as felt by the applicant.¡±

The association says that 40 minors have formally requested a name change in Spain for similar reasons, and that 30 have achieved it. However, ¡°there is no common criteria and the decision is left up to each judge.¡±

Chrysallis wants specific legislation to allow transgender children to change their names and ¡°guarantee respect for their fundamental rights.¡±

English version by Susana Urra.