Entry #2802: Right to change legal gender in Bulgaria

Current Version

Region	Bulgaria
Issue	Right to change legal gender
Status	Legal, but requires surgery
Start Date	Oct 16, 2009
End Date	Feb 21, 2023
Description	In 2009, the Bulgarian Identity Documents Act was amended to provide for a possibility of "changing sex" in identification documents but did not provide any requirements specified nor who could issue such documents. However, in practice, sterilisation and surgery were often required.
Sources	https://tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Trans-mapA_Map2016july.pdf https://sofiaglobe.com/2023/02/21/bulgaria-high-court-ruling-bans-legal-change-of-gender/ https://www.kvlaw.bg/documents/f/en/07_bulgarian_personal_documents_act.pdf

Revision History (13)

Apr 18, 2025

edited by DaisyGeekyTrans. Adding more information.

Helpful?

	Old Value	New Value (Current)
Start Date	(unknown)	Oct 16, 2009
Description	Before the 2023 supreme court ruling sterilisation was required to change legal gender.	In 2009, the Bulgarian Identity Documents Act was amended to provide for a possibility of "changing sex" in identification documents but did not provide any requirements specified nor who could issue such documents. However, in practice, sterilisation and surgery were often required.
Description	Show Difference Before the 2023 supreme court ruling sterilisation was required to change legal gender. In 2009, the Bulgarian Identity Documents Act was amended to provide for a possibility of "changing sex" in identification documents but did not provide any requirements specified nor who could issue such documents. However, in practice, sterilisation and surgery were often required.
Sources	https://tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Trans-mapA_Map2016july.pdf https://sofiaglobe.com/2023/02/21/bulgaria-high-court-ruling-bans-legal-change-of-gender/	https://tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Trans-mapA_Map2016july.pdf https://sofiaglobe.com/2023/02/21/bulgaria-high-court-ruling-bans-legal-change-of-gender/ https://www.kvlaw.bg/documents/f/en/07_bulgarian_personal_documents_act.pdf
Sources	Show Difference https://tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Trans-mapA_Map2016july.pdf https://sofiaglobe.com/2023/02/21/bulgaria-high-court-ruling-bans-legal-change-of-gender/ https://tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Trans-mapA_Map2016july.pdf https://sofiaglobe.com/2023/02/21/bulgaria-high-court-ruling-bans-legal-change-of-gender/ https://www.kvlaw.bg/documents/f/en/07_bulgarian_personal_documents_act.pdf

Feb 16, 2025

edited by jadeywadey. improved description and added source

Helpful?

	Old Value	New Value
Description	Requires sterilization. Ruled not legal by EU. Changes pending. Missing non binary options on documents.	Before the 2023 supreme court ruling sterilisation was required to change legal gender.
Description	Show Difference Requires sterilization. Ruled not legal by EU. Changes pending. Missing non binary options on documents. Before the 2023 supreme court ruling sterilisation was required to change legal gender.
Sources	https://tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Trans-mapA_Map2016july.pdf	https://tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Trans-mapA_Map2016july.pdf https://sofiaglobe.com/2023/02/21/bulgaria-high-court-ruling-bans-legal-change-of-gender/
Sources	Show Difference https://tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Trans-mapA_Map2016july.pdf https://tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Trans-mapA_Map2016july.pdf https://sofiaglobe.com/2023/02/21/bulgaria-high-court-ruling-bans-legal-change-of-gender/

Mar 1, 2023

edited by Markissik. Due to new entry

Helpful?

	Old Value	New Value
End Date	(none)	Feb 21, 2023

Reports (1)
Sources are invalid or broken "Link gives 404 not found
https://tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Trans-mapA_Map2016july.pdf"
Sep 2, 2024

Dec 9, 2022

edited by Notdog1996

Helpful?

	Old Value	New Value
Value	(REMOVED)	Legal, but requires surgery
Special Status	Ambiguous	Legal, but requires surgery

Reports (5)
Newer law has been passed "https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/bulgaria-bans-gender-reassignment-surgery/"
Feb 27, 2023
Newer law has been passed "https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/bulgaria-bans-gender-reassignment-surgery/"
Feb 27, 2023
Status is not correct "The law just changed in feb 2023. Now is illegal"
Feb 25, 2023
Newer law has been passed "On February 21st, Bulgaria outlawed gender changes."
Feb 23, 2023
Status is not correct "not legal since 2017
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Bulgaria"
Feb 19, 2023

Nov 13, 2022

edited by XabBG

Helpful?

	Old Value	New Value
Value	Legal, but requires surgery	(REMOVED)
Special Status	Legal, but requires surgery	Ambiguous

Sep 12, 2018

edited by Ausyk

Helpful?

	Old Value	New Value
Description	Requires sterilization. Ruled not legal by EU. Changes pending.	Requires sterilization. Ruled not legal by EU. Changes pending. Missing non binary options on documents.
Description	Show Difference Requires sterilization. Ruled not legal by EU. Changes pending. Missing non binary options on documents.

Sep 2, 2018

edited by Ausyk

Helpful?

	Old Value	New Value
Description	Requires sterilization. Ruled not legal by EU.	Requires sterilization. Ruled not legal by EU. Changes pending.
Description	Show Difference Requires sterilization. Ruled not legal by EU. Changes pending.

Mar 23, 2018

edited by Ausyk

Helpful?

	Old Value	New Value
Start Date	Mar 25, 2015	(unknown)
Sources	No	https://tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Trans-mapA_Map2016july.pdf

Dec 2, 2017

edited by Ausyk

Helpful?

	Old Value	New Value
Description	Requires sterilization.	Requires sterilization. Ruled not legal by EU.

Oct 17, 2017

edited by Ausyk

Helpful?

	Old Value	New Value
Value	Legal, no restrictions	Legal, but requires surgery

Sep 1, 2017

edited by Ausyk

Helpful?

	Old Value	New Value
Start Date	(unknown)	Mar 25, 2015

Aug 30, 2017

edited by Ausyk

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	Old Value (Original)	New Value
Description	No	Requires sterilization.

Jul 29, 2016

created by Ausyk

Helpful?

	Original entry
Status	Legal, no restrictions
Start Date	(unknown)
End Date	(none)
Description	No
Sources	No