Swiss court rules on gender change in civil register case

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court has ruled that parents do not need to provide consent for a 16-year-old to change their gender entry in the civil register. + Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The case involved around a couple and their daughter who was born in 2007. In November 2023, the child and adult protection authority asked the parents to hand over their daughter’s identity documents to the guardian so that a change of gender and first name could be made at the civil registry office. Such a procedure is provided for in Article 30a of the Civil Code (CC), which came into force on January 1, 2022. It applies to people over the age of 16 who are capable of judgment. The parents unsuccessfully challenged their daughter's decision before the Geneva courts. They are essentially of the opinion that a civil servant is not qualified to assess the capacity of a minor. Such a task must be entrusted to an experienced psychiatrist specialising in gender issues who ...