Reports say Bulgaria court allows legal sex changes for trans people

Bulgaria's top court has ruled that trans people have a right to legally change their sex, judicial news reports said, in the first such judgment in the country since 2020.

Judges ruled that authorities could not refuse to change a person's sex in civil records only on biological, moral or religious grounds, or because detailed legislation is absent. The ruling said such a refusal would amount to unequal treatment.

The judgment was one of three recent decisions on the issue by the Court of Cassation, according to the legal news website Lex.bg. In 2023, the same court ruled that Bulgarian law did not allow changes to a trans person's sex, name and personal identification number in the civil registry.

On March 12, the European Union's Court of Justice ruled that European law prevents legislation that blocks such changes by a person who has exercised the right to move and live in another EU country.