MADRID (AP) — A new law proposed by the far-left party in Spain’s coalition government would simplify the process to obtain a legal gender and name change. A bill sponsored by the country’s equality minister aims to make self-determination sufficient and to do away with requirements for a psychiatric diagnosis, medical treatment and a court’s approval. Nearly 20 countries, eight of them in the European Union, already have similar laws. So far, the fiercest resistance to the legislation in Spain has come not from the Catholic Church or the far right, but from from some feminists and within the ranks of the Socialist-led government.
