Argentina granted a female identification card and amended birth certificate to 6-year-old Manuel who was born a boy but has dressed in girls' clothing since the age of four, the Associated Press reported.
Manuel, who now goes by Luana, received her new identification and amended birth certificate with the change in gender on Wednesday thanks to the gender-identity law passed in Argentina in May of 2012, the AP reported.
The gender identity law allows people to alter their gender on official documents, documents that are needed to ride trains, work or be admitted into the hospital in Argentina, without having to receive a diagnosis or surgery first, according to The New York Times.
The law will also require public and private doctors to provide free hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery for any person who wants it, including those under the age of 18. Luana's case is the first time Argentina has issued a change in gender on documents for a minor since the approval of the identity law last year, the AP reported.
After Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize gay marriage, they started on the path to offer protection and comfort to the nearly 22,000 transgender people in the country, according to the Times.
Previous Argentinian law, according to the Times, stated those who feel their "national identification cards do not reflect their true gender have to receive a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and bring a case before the courts."
This same law is currently protocol in most other countries, including the United States, although recent cases are shedding light on the issue.
According to HuffingtonPost, in late June another 6-year-old Cory Mathis was prevented from using the girls' bathroom in a Colorado Springs school. Coy was born a triplet with two sisters and identified as a girl before she began attending elementary school; she refused to leave the house if dressed in boy clothes and has been diagnosed with "gender identity disorder" by the courts.
Since then, the court ruled to allow Mathis use of the girls' bathroom, in what advocate are calling "the first such ruling in the next frontier in civil rights," Huffington Post reported.
Kathryn Mathis, Cory's mom told Huffington Post that her daughter's future will be better "if we get to this place where this is nothing to be ashamed of," mentioning that the family hadn't sought a civil rights battle but was happy for the Colorado Division of Civil Rights' ruling.