The changing landscape of legal gender recognition in the post-Soviet region

Bibliographic Data

ID21982136
AuthorsYana Kirey-Sitnikova (0000-0002-9603-5114, corresponding author)
Year2025
Publication date2025-12-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueOñati Socio-legal Series (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2079-5971 • E-ISSN: 2079-5971
PublisherOnati International Institute for the Sociology of Law (PUBLISHER • ES)
DOI10.35295/osls.iisl.2466
OpenAlexW7116695585
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited46

Procedures of legal gender recognition (LGR) for transgender and intersex persons vary and change rapidly around the world. This study aims to compare and trace the historical development of LGR procedures in post-Soviet countries. Legislation of the Soviet Union and Russia was found to influence respective regulations in many post-Soviet countries, while some later procedures took aspiration from Western countries and international organizations. Involvement of the trans-movement in the drafting was a good predictor for LGR requiring less time and medical interventions (in, for example, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine). Although the actual requirements for LGR vary throughout the region, the process remains inseparable from psychiatric evaluation, usually requiring the diagnosis “transsexualism” (ICD-10). While until recently access to LGR had not depended on wider political dynamics, anti-trans sentiments driven by anti-Western narratives led to the repeal of LGR procedures in Russia and Georgia

European union · Legislation · Narrative · Politics · Psychological intervention · Repeal · Transgender · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Sexual Differentiation and Disorders