Spanish authorities passed a law that allows citizens as young as 16 years old to legally change their gender, a decision that comes after months of heated debates between lawmakers.

The country's parliament gave the final approval for the legislation allowing younger people to make legal changes to their genders without undergoing medical evaluations. The proposal passed with 191 votes in favor and 60 against, which marked the final step in an extensive debate regarding the issue.

Spain's New Transgender Law

Following the approval of the law, the process to change a person's gender legally could, in theory, now take up to only around three to four months. On Thursday, another law was passed that included paid menstrual leave for women suffering severe period pains.

Residents previously needed a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and to have been undergoing hormonal treatment for two years before they were allowed to legally change their genders on their ID card, as per BBC.

People can now identify as another gender and confirm it after three months. Younger residents, aged 12 to 13, will still need a judge's approval, while those aged 14 and 15 will need their parents' permission for the legal gender change.

Before the vote, Irene Montero, the Spanish equality minister, said that "trans people are not sick people; they are just people." The lawmaker was seen smiling outside Congress after the passing of the law. The approval of the proposal ended a 20-month-long parliamentary debate on the issue.

However, not everyone welcomed the new law with open arms, with one protester, Patricia Bilbao, saying that they supported women's rights in the face of officials erasing them using misogynist laws.

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A Historic Vote

The so-called "transgender law" was championed by the left-wing party Podemos, an ally of the Socialists in Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government. The law allows the country to join other nations that have permitted gender self-determination via a simple declaration, with Denmark being the first in Europe to do so in 2014, according to EuroNews.

Montero said that the law's passing marks a giant step forward for Spain by recognizing the "free determination of gender identity." The first trans woman to serve as a lawmaker in the country, Carla Antonelli, called the vote a "historic day." In a Twitter post, she said that they have always been on the right side of history and noted that the bill's passing was justice being done.

However, the division that the bill left on the left-wing coalition government pitted activists against each other. A member of the opposition Popular Party, Maria Jesus Moro, appealed to lawmakers not to vote in support of the proposal.

The transgender law was accompanied by similar vote lawmakers made regarding medical pain leave for women with painful menstrual periods. It passed with a tally of 185 votes in favor and 154 against. The government said that the law seeks to break a taboo on the subject, said France24.

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