TGEU Countries: Moldova cial document confirming his or her sex change”. But this Moreover, in 2012, when two transsexual women re- Despite the fact that in November 2012 the Supreme Justice, continue to fail to understand the human-rights provision, as vague as it is, does not explain what consti- quested that the State Registry Office change their Court of Justice issued non-binding recommendations implications of transgender issues and lack the political tutes a “sex change” or which state authority is in charge names and gender marker on their birth certificates, to the lower courts to fully satisfy claims submitted by will to implement a transparent, accessible and quick le- of issuing such certificates. In practice, the main state based on the certificate issued by the Gender Dyspho- transgender people who seek legal gender recognition, gal gender-recognition mechanism. authority in charge of applying this law is the State Regis- ria Commission, their application was refused due to other Moldovan authorities, such as the Ministry of try Office, which answers to the Ministry of Justice. As a the State Registry’s Office unwillingness to “arbitrarily” result, in 2012 a transsexual woman who had undergone interpret the vaguely written Article 66. These women gender-confirmation surgery abroad was refused to then filed a lawsuit contesting the State Registry Office’s have her gender marker and name changed on her birth refusal, which they later won in the Chișinău Court of certificate because the State Registry Office did not Appeal. It was a very progressive court judgment based deem her certificate, which had been issued by a foreign on the individual’s right to self-determination and iden- Angela Frolov, Lobby and Advocacy Programme Coordinator and clinic, valid for Moldova. On a more positive note, Article tity recognition, and it obliged the State Registry Office primary legal aid provider at GENDERDOC-M Information Centre 66(2)(c) does not require transgender individuals seek- to issue new civil documents to both plaintiffs without ing legal gender recognition to undergo any compulsory compulsory medical or surgical gender-reassignment medical or surgical intervention, including sterilisation. intervention. This case received a great deal of media attention, which prompted the Ministry of Justice to put to legal gender recognition and change of documents. Currently, it is only possible to change one’s Since Moldova’s Ministry of Health bases its activity pressure on the judges who had issued the decision, as gender in one’s documents by going to court, and the pro bono support our lawyer provides is indispen- on the internationally recognised World Health Organ- a result of which they arbitrarily revised their ruling and sable because of the legal expertise required and because we cover all legal expenses. Mostly, trans- ization standards, and namely on the tenth revision of dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim under the false pretext gender people lack sufficient resources because they cannot find a job, since their documents don’t the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), that there were missing documents in their claim (the represent them. Most prefer to hide their gender identity. That’s why, in the case of a “more success- it treats transgender identities as pathological and has plaintiffs had forgotten to annex them). ful” transition, they rarely face transphobia. However, there have been several cases of discrimination established the Gender Dysphoria Commission, whose + 62 + A ll transgender people who turn to GENDERDOC-M for legal advice do so to receive help in regards that have been reported to us. In one case, a transsexual woman transitioned and had her documents principal activity is to psychiatrically examine trans- Later, during a meeting with the Deputy Minister of gender individuals who seek legal gender recognition Justice, Mr Vladimir Grosu (who currently holds the and issue them state-authorised medical certificates portfolio of Minister of Justice), GENDERDOC-M confirming a “transsexualism” diagnosis with the rec- representatives asked him why the Ministry of Justice ommendation that they have their gender changed on disagreed with the 2012 Court of Appeal’s progres- their civil-status documents changed (male to female or sive ruling. Mr Grosu said that the ruling would lead to vice versa). The Gender Dysphoria Commission was es- legislative change, which would be debated and adopt- tablished as an interministerial working group between ed by the Parliament of Moldova. He said further that Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice to develop during these debates, the Ministry of Justice should tity numbers for transgender people. Gender identity and gender expression are not recognised as a mutually recognised legal gender-recognition mecha- demonstrate to Members of Parliament that it had done grounds for hate crimes and bias-motivated violence. Transgender people prefer not to report viola- nism; however, shortly thereafter, the Ministry of Justice everything possible not to allow change of documents tions of their rights to state authorities out of fear that their gender identity will be disclosed and that opted out from participating in it. for transgender individuals. they will therefore be subjected to ill-treatment by state officials. changed, as a result of which she is subjected to discrimination and bullying by her co-workers and employer. Other problems arise when people use various public services (e.g. the bank), which maintain institutional databases of clients, including their state-issued individual identity number, which cannot be changed, even after one’s gender identity is legally recognised. During the past two months, we have documented two cases of hate crimes on the grounds of gender identity and gender expression. Moldovan legislation lacks mechanisms for legal gender recognition and the change of individual iden- + 63 +