Earlier, it had been reported that now, following a relevant decision by the Cabinet of Ministers, citizens who have changed their gender can also change their name and surname. Moreover, messages like “permission has been granted to change gender...”, “now anyone who changes their gender can also change their family name, name, and father's name...” spread on social media. The Ministry of Justice provided clarifications on these reports and the decision.
It is noted that, according to the legislation, information about the child's gender at the time of birth registration is written based on a medical certificate provided by the medical institution. However, every year, around 5-6 children are born with an uncertain gender condition. In these cases, initial examinations might indicate the child's gender as either “male” or “female”, but later, when the child is between 5-10 years old, and in some instances, over 10-16 years old, it is determined that the child's gender is not “male” but “female”, or vice versa.
In such circumstances, corrections are made to the information on the gender based on the conclusion of the medical institution.
For your information, the possibility of correcting one's gender in such cases is stipulated in Article 229 of the Family Code, and these legal norms have not been newly introduced, but have been in effect since September 1, 1998.
There have been some legal gaps in the legislation regarding this matter. For example, a child born in 2008 was registered as “male” without a possibility to determine the gender, and a male name was given. Later, when the child reached the age of 16, medical examinations determined that the gender of the child was female, and corrections were made to the information regarding the child's gender based on the conclusion of the medical institution. However, based on this conclusion, it was not possible to change the child's surname, name, and father's name appropriately for a girl.
To eliminate these legal gaps, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted decision number 362 on June 12 of this year, prescribing that when corrections are made to the information on the gender based on the conclusion of the medical institution, it is stipulated to change the child's surname, name, and father's name according to the gender.
“We ask that such cases not be misinterpreted by mass media,” the report says.
