Entry #376: Right to change legal gender in Poland

Current Version

RegionPoland
IssueRight to change legal gender
StatusLegal, but requires surgery
Start DateNov 17, 1964
End DateSep 22, 1995
DescriptionA medical diagnosis required, and individuals need to sue their parents in order to have their birth certificate changed. Under Polish law reassignment surgery can only take place after a person's gender has been legally changed.
Sourceshttp://doradztwopab.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/zmiana-plci-w-polskim-prawie/ https://rainbow-europe.org/#8653/0/0
Reports (1)
  • Date is incorrect "the state required gender reassignment until 1978, not 1995."


Revision History (3)

Revision by aesper. Incorrect Status

Old Value New Value (Current)
End Date(NONE)Sep 22, 1995

Revision by JohnQuebec98. The description and other sources are enough for a status change unfortunately

Old Value New Value
ValueLegal, no restrictionsLegal, but requires surgery
Sourceshttp://doradztwopab.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/zmiana-plci-w-polskim-prawie/http://doradztwopab.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/zmiana-plci-w-polskim-prawie/
https://rainbow-europe.org/#8653/0/0
Show Difference
http://doradztwopab.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/zmiana-plci-w-polskim-prawie/ http://doradztwopab.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/zmiana-plci-w-polskim-prawie/ https://rainbow-europe.org/#8653/0/0
Reports (8)
  • Status is not correct "Changing Legal Gender does not require a surgery or even taking hormones if u really wish so its not regulated and its up to the judge but in 99% u do not have to do any surgery im pretty sure its even illegal for u to perform srs without ur gender marks changed"
  • Status is not correct "Poland after communism never required surgery to change legal gender markers its illegal to even perform srs without changed gender markers"
  • Status is not correct "legal gender change does not require surgery nor HRT. You can also get mastectomy without changing the gender."
  • Status is not correct "The surgery is not required but being on hormones is"
  • Status is not correct "As the existing status notes, sexual reassignment surgery can only take place after legal gender change, so legal gender change does not "require surgery" (the order of events is backwards). I propose the status be changed to "Ambiguous" because current legal literature explains that legal gender change is possible in Poland, but there is no statute governing this process, so it occurs at the discretion of lower courts. Different requirements may be applied, including suing one's parents, spouse, and sometimes children. Please see: Bartnik et al 2020 (https://web.archive.org/web/20200507150839id_/http://www.advances.umed.wroc.pl/pdf/2020/29/3/409.pdf) and Wojewoda 2021 (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-68494-5_6)"
  • Status is not correct "reassignment surgery cannot legally take place before changing legal gender"
  • Status is not correct "Surgery is not needed to legally change gender, however, legally changing gender is required for most gender conforming surgeries, this was not reflected in law in any way, it has been this way for years"
  • Status is not correct "According to tranzycja.pl (Polish compendium of information about transition) no surgeries are needed for legal gender change. There is no legal document that specifies medical requirements for changing legal gender. https://tranzycja.pl/krok-po-kroku/zmiana-danych-sad/ (in Polish) https://tranzycja.pl/en/publications/how-to-start-medical-transition-in-poland/#questions-and-answers (English)"

Revision by beeurd

Old Value (Original) New Value
ValueLegal, but requires surgeryLegal, no restrictions
DescriptionA medical diagnosis required, and individuals need to sue their parents in order to have their birth certificate changed. Under Polish law reassignment surgery can only take place after a person's gender has been legally changed.
Show Difference
A medical diagnosis required, and individuals need to sue their parents in order to have their birth certificate changed. Under Polish law reassignment surgery can only take place after a person's gender has been legally changed.
Reports (15)
  • Status is not correct "According to Wikipedia changing legal gender doesn't require surgeries"
  • Status is not correct
  • Status is not correct "Legal gender change requires psychological evaluation and sometimes undergoing minimum amount of hormone therapy, depending on court deciding your case. Surgery is definitely NOT required for a legal change, and it's actually exactly the opposite - you have to change your legal gender to undergo SRS."
  • Status is not correct "It's legal, but it doesn't require surgery, only HRT. "Legal, no surgery required" is more accurate"
  • Other "Provided source claims the opposite: "A court decision is the basis for getting SRS.""
  • Status is not correct "Requires medical intervention, not necessarily surgery, being on HRT for long enough suffices. "
  • Status is not correct "bill from 2015 failed, there is no law describing procedure - formally medical transition is not required since the procedure doesnt exist - transgender people from poland use legal loophole consisting suing their own parents for claiming falsehood in birth certificate."
  • Status is not correct "there's no need of surgery, but without legal gender change u cant udergoo srs. You also need to sue your own parents and win the court trial"
  • Status is not correct "No surgery is required, but expert opinion from a specialist is necessary for the court to allow one to update their documents. Also, requiring surgery would mean that sterilization is necessary, this would a requirement explicitly banned in Polish law."
  • Status is not correct "Legal Legal process is prerequisite for (possible) later surgery"
  • Status is not correct "Does not require surgery"
  • Status is not correct "Not necessarily"
  • Status is not correct "Yes and no. It does not require surgery if the characteristics are dominant."
  • Status is not correct "You need to sue your parents over wrong sex marker assignment, so there is no way specified in law."
  • Status is not correct

PeterGalazka created this entry.