Israel To Recognize Sex Change Without Gender Reassignment Surgery

Israel plans to allow transgender people to legally change their gender without having to undergo gender reassignment surgery first

Israel plans to allow transgender people to legally change their gender without having to undergo gender reassignment surgery first, reports Haaretz.

The announcement comes after two transgender women filed a petition against the Interior Ministry’s demand that they undergo gender reassignment surgery as a condition for altering their identity card gender from male to female.

One of the petitioners is Ronit Liran Shaked (above), a lawyer who up until two years ago lived as a man and was married to a woman. 

The two women argued that they were not interested in sex reassignment surgery, and that making this a prerequisite is unreasonable.

At a meeting on the issue held by Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber, the Health Ministry explained that other countries have recognized criteria for determining that a person has changed his gender even without sex-change surgery. Based on this information, a decision was made to change the existing Interior Ministry procedure.