The Uruguayan Senate gave preliminary approval to a comprehensive law for transgender people
With votes from the Broad Front and Senator Pablo Mieres of the Independent Party (PI), the Uruguayan Senate gave preliminary approval to the comprehensive law for transgender people.
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Photo: Mariana Greif
With votes from the Broad Front and Independent Party (PI) Senator Pablo Mieres, the Uruguayan Senate gave preliminary approval to the comprehensive law for transgender people. This followed a six-hour session during which arguments were presented regarding the human rights violations suffered by these individuals.
Uruguay has had a gender identity law since 2009, but it is limited to changing the name on identity documents. Until now, there has been no law that guarantees the rights to health, housing, and employment for transgender people. For this reason, this comprehensive transgender rights bill , which includes these rights as well as historical reparations for survivors. After being shelved, it finally entered the Senate on August 13th amidst controversy surrounding Article 17, which addressed children and adolescents and their access to hormone therapy and surgeries.
[READ ALSO: Montevideo marched for diversity with the slogan “Trans Law Now”]
Senator Daniela Payssé of the Broad Front said that this project was not rushed through, as it underwent 18 months of analysis: "It was very well studied," she assured, adding that the text seeks "to achieve the full exercise of the rights of trans people," a population "that has been the victim of stigma, discrimination, and social and state violence."
For her part, Senator Verónica Alonso of the opposition National Party stressed that this is a project that gives "benefits" to the trans population "for the sole reason of feeling different" and that it "discriminates" against that population.
[READ ALSO: Uruguay has the first state census of trans people]
According to the National Census of Transgender People, conducted by the Ministry of Social Development and the University of the Republic, there are approximately 853 transgender people in Uruguay. 90% are transgender women and 10% are transgender men.
The vast majority of trans people are adults: 34.7% are between 18 and 29 years old, 26.6% are between 30 and 40 years old, 19.9% are between 40 and 50 years old, and only 17.6% live past 50. Only 10% are under 18 years old.
The text, which was approved with the votes of the Broad Front and the Independent Party and rejected by the National and Colorado parties, will now go to the Chamber of Deputies, where it will be discussed next week in an extraordinary session.
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