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Photos: Josean Rivera 

on the gender identity bill at 4:00 PM . The Joint Committee only approved the final version of the bill on August 6th, sending it to both chambers for a vote.

The law requires, among other things:

1. a) To the recognition and protection of their Gender Identity.
   b) To the free development of their person, in accordance with their Gender Identity, allowing their greatest possible spiritual and material fulfillment.
2. c) To be treated in accordance with their gender identity and, in particular, to be recognized and identified as such in public documents that certify their identity with respect to name and sex. Likewise, images, photographs, digital media, computer files, or any other instrument by which individuals appear in official records must be consistent with said identity.

The Chamber of Deputies, for its part, is expected to hold its vote this Thursday.

[READ ALSO: #Chile Tension in the public hearings for the Gender Identity Law]

Once the bill is sent to the Senate, President Sebastián Piñera has 30 days to issue vetoes of an additive, substitute, or suppressive nature if he deems the bill's content unsuitable. In this case, it returns to the Senate for debate and must be approved by both chambers.

[READ ALSO: Chile: More than 75% of trans people suffer discrimination]

Once everything has been approved, whether or not there was a veto, unless all the organic constitutional norms have been eliminated (minors under 18 years of age and married persons), the project will go to the Constitutional Court for mandatory preventive control.

[READ ALSO: Being trans and living in Chile: 10 things you need to know]

“We hope that Congress will settle its debt with the trans community and take this fundamental step in the protection and recognition of one of the most discriminated groups in the country,” Juan Enrique Pi, from the Iguales Foundation, told Presentes.

Childhoods

After months of discussion, the Joint Committee of Congress approved on June 19 the inclusion of children under 14 years of age. Article 7 was also approved, allowing those over 18 to complete the process at the Civil Registry. It still needs to be debated in both houses of Congress.

The inclusion of those under 14 and those over 14 but under 18 will be voted on separately. This is to avoid rejecting all those under 18.

Five years of waiting and modifications

On May 7, 2013, the bill that “Recognizes and Protects the Right to Gender Identity”—known as the Gender Identity Law—was introduced in the Senate. The original text of the bill was presented by OTD with the support of Fundación Iguales and drafted by Ximena Gauché It was sponsored by Senators Lily Pérez, Ximena Rincón, Camilo Escalona, ​​Ricardo Lagos Weber, and Juan Pablo Letelier.

[READ ALSO: Married trans people must dissolve their marriage to change their name and registered sex]

The project timeline can be read here .

“This initiative will not eradicate transphobia against the trans population. It is a minimum standard for regulating the right to gender identity and the change of name and registered sex to reduce discrimination and exclusion due to the non-recognition of identity,” said Constanza Valdés.