Humanities in health articles: Transgender, change of gender in civil status

These few lines explore legal and jurisprudential developments in France concerning gender identity, highlighting significant changes but also underlining gaps in current legislation. Initially based on a contested binary approach, French law regards sex as an element of a person's legal status. However, it remains silent on the definition of sex and does not pronounce on the issue, leaving it more readily to the human sciences. As for jurisprudence, it has long determined the legal framework, initially with hostility towards the legal transformation of sexual identity. However, the influence of European human rights case law has led to developments, notably in 1992, when the European Court of Human Rights stressed the need to recognize the current situation of a "trans" person in official documents, while subjecting it to specific situational conditions. Despite some changes in 2010, attenuating the logic of psychiatric treatment, jurisprudence persisted with strict medical requirements until 2016. The law on the modernization of justice in the 21st century has introduced significant changes, allowing a change in the mention of gender in civil status without medical requirements, but the text remains incomplete and imperfect. This new legislation, while important and innovative, has its shortcomings, particularly with regard to the filiation of children born after a sex change in civil status. The text does not seem to address this issue, which could lead to legal complications.