Security forces must guarantee the health of transgender personnel

Six years after the Gender Identity Law was passed, only the police force has a transgender endocrinology service. All federal forces must provide it.

January 8, 2019

The Gender Identity Law No. 26,743, sanctioned in 2012, establishes that the social welfare organizations of the Federal Police and Security Forces are obliged to provide treatment and support to trans people "guaranteeing the right to free personal development, through the anti-pathologizing health care model."

However, six years later, only the Churruca-Visca Police Medical Complex has a transgender endocrinology service, and therefore only Federal Police personnel have access. Now, following a resolution from the Ministry of Security, the other federal security forces—the Naval Prefecture, the National Gendarmerie, and the Airport Security Police—will have to sign agreements that allow their personnel to have access to this specialized service.

According to Resolution 12/2019, published in the Official Gazette, the service will be limited to providing "Hormone Replacement Therapy" (HRT) in the specialty of transgender endocrinology, which operates in the Endocrinology and Metabolism Service.

Institutional support and containment

As established in Article 11 of the National Gender Identity Law, “providers of the public health system, whether state-run, private, or part of the social security system, must permanently guarantee the rights recognized by this law. All health services contemplated in this article are included in the Mandatory Medical Plan, or any plan that replaces it, as regulated by the implementing authority.”

The new resolution establishes "measures to provide access to hormone replacement treatment in cases that require it" and also guarantees that it is provided "in a supportive environment such as the hospitals of the Federal Police and Security Forces, so that the subject feels institutional support during their transition."

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