More and more people want their physical identity to match their gender identity. It has been 40 years since the first gender change law was passed in Italy, and the number of those starting the transition process is increasing, especially among young people, writes La Stampa

Over five years, from 2018 to 2022, according to data provided by the Service for the Adaptation of Physical and Mental Identity (SAIFIP) of the San Camillo Forlanini Hospital in Rome, the number of visits increased by 470%, with the majority of those concerned being teenagers.

If in 2018 20 teenagers applied to the section, then in 2022 their number reached 114. Young people who decide to go to the center are mostly (68%) “registered at birth as female”, the remaining 32% are “registered male”.

And among adults, the percentage of those who came to San Camillo with the same complaints has increased by 55% over the past 5 years. In terms of regions of origin, the highest percentage of teenagers (87%) originate from Lazio. Next comes Abruzzo 5%; Campania, Marche and Calabria 1%; Apulia and Umbria (3%). Among adults, the access rate by sex assigned at birth is 44% “identified at birth male” and 56% “identified at birth female.”

Here too, the highest percentage of adults who want to change gender (77.9%) comes from Lazio, followed by the Abruzzo regions with 3.7%; Marche and Umbria 3.1%; Apulia and Campania 2.6%; Sicily 1.6%; Sardinia and Calabria 1%; Lombardy and Molise 0.5%. Three applicants came from London (1.6%).

Forty years ago, Italy passed the first gender reassignment law requiring surgery. Act 164 of 1982 required two trials. First of all, it was necessary to obtain permission for the “gender change” operation, and after the operation, a new permission to change the gender and name in the documents. We had to wait until 2011 for a new legislative intervention with Legislative Decree 150, more precisely Article 31, which states that surgery for the correction of sexual characteristics can be authorized by the court when “when necessary”.

In other words, gender reassignment surgery does not necessarily have to be done. However, the court’s permission is required for the operation. In 2015, the Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation expressed their opinion on this issue.

By sentence No. 221, the Constitutional Court established that sex reassignment surgery is possible and not necessary during the transition period, while the Court of Cassation, by sentence No. 15138, established that surgical intervention should be understood as a means of achieving psychophysical well-being. and therefore, to protect the human right to health.

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