Quebec to drop surgery requirement for people who want to change their sex on IDs

QUEBEC — A Quebec bill that would have allowed only people who have undergone surgery to change their sex on identification documents will be changed.

The bill introduced Oct. 21 by Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette was criticized by transgender-rights activists.

The law would have allowed people who identify as transgender to change their “gender” designation on official documents.

However activists said they were worried that would force people to reveal that they are transgender every time they showed their ID, because they would be the only ones with a “gender” as opposed to a “sex” designation on those documents.

A spokeswoman for Jolin-Barrette says in an email today that the government has listened to the critics, and the surgery requirement will be dropped from the bill.

Élisabeth Gosselin says the bill is intended to comply with a court ruling that ordered the government to allow transgender and non-binary people to adequately change their sex and gender identification on civil documents and to better reflect the realities faced by LGBTQ families.

The proposed law, known as Bill 2, is a wide-ranging update to the province’s Civil Code that includes other changes to family law.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian Press