Law No. 21,120, also now asGender Identity Law (Spanish:Ley de identidad de género), is aChilean law published in theDiario Oficial on December 10, 2018. The objective of this law is to allow the change of name andregistered sex of a person, when said record does not correspond or is not consistent with theirgender identity.[1]
It was signed into law byPresidentSebastián Piñera on November 28, 2018, and published in theDiario Oficial on December 10 of the same year. The bill was a parliamentary initiative introduced on May 7, 2013, by SenatorsLily Pérez,Ximena Rincón,Camilo Escalona,Ricardo Lagos Weber, andJuan Pablo Letelier.[2]
The law establishes two different procedures: one administrative for persons over 18 years of age and the other judicial before the Family Courts. The judicial procedure is intended for persons under 18 and over 14 years of age, provided they have the authorization of at least one legal representative (usually the mother or father, at the choice of thetransgender adolescent). The law does not contemplate the possibility for persons under 14 years of age to change their registered name and sex, despite the fact that civil courts have already authorized them on more than one occasion by making use of the aforementioned Law 17.344 on the change of names and surnames. Thus, with respect to trans children under 14 years of age, there is only specific protection at the school level, through the provisions of Circular 0768[3] of theSuperintendency of Education.[4][5]
Until the entry into force ofLaw 21,400 on Equal Marriage on March 10, 2022, there was a judicial procedure for changing the name and sex on the registry, which was intended for married people and whose processing was very similar to adivorce.
The law establishes the following principles relating to the right to gender identity:[6]
The law entered into force on December 27, 2019, 120 days after the last publication in theDiario Oficial of the regulations referred to in Article 26. There are two regulations: one issued by theMinistry of Justice and Human Rights, which regulates the procedure before theCivil Registry; and the other, issued by theMinistry of Social Development and Family and theMinistry of Health, which regulates support programs for children and their families, as provided for in Article 23 of the law. These regulations were submitted to theComptroller General of the Republic on June 28, 2019, and the approval process is underway.
As of December 17, 2019, transgender people residing in Chile were able to request the necessary hearing to complete the process at anyCivil Registry and Identification Service office starting on the 27th of the same month. On the day the law went into effect, 921 appointments had been requested for name changes. The process is free and does not require a lawyer. All they need to do is pay the corresponding amount for their new identity documents:ID card,passport, andbirth certificate. The person retains theirUnique National Role (RUN) and for legal purposes, it is only a correction of theirfirst name according to their gender identity, but not theirlast name.[7] The first Chilean to receive her identity card with a change of sex and registered name was Valeria Pinto Valdés on January 27, 2020.[8][9]