An Italian court has approved the legal name and registered sex change for a 13-year-old minor following a medical and psychological process of what is termed “gender transition.” The decision, adopted by the La Spezia Court on December 21, makes the teenager the youngest person in Italy to obtain this legal recognition, according to LifeSiteNews.
The ruling orders the rectification of the birth certificate, allowing the minor—born female—to be officially registered as male. The court accepted the application filed by the parents, supported by medical and psychological reports that certify a “completed” transition process under clinical supervision.
The family’s lawyer, Stefano Genick, described the resolution as “historic in terms of precedent” and assured that, in the court’s judgment, “at 13 years old, gender identity is already consolidated,” a point that would have been confirmed by the judicially appointed medical evaluations.
Hormonal treatments and puberty blockers
According to the documentation reviewed by the judges, the minor began to exhibit behaviors considered masculine at nine years old. The family then went to a hospital in Florence, where specialists in psychiatry, andrology, and endocrinology diagnosed gender dysphoria and initiated treatment with triptorelin, a drug intended to block puberty by suppressing hormone production.
After several years of clinical follow-up, the parents requested legal recognition of the transition, so that the minor would appear as male in official documents as well. The court gave the green light to the request, based—according to the Italian newspaper Libero—on “the psychotherapeutic path followed consistently, the hormonal therapies administered successfully, and the mature management of the social discomfort associated with the change process.”
The magistrates concluded that the minor had reached “full awareness of the incongruence between her body and the perceived gender identity.”
Criticism for legal inconsistency
According to information gathered by LifeSiteNews, the decision has provoked a strong critical reaction in the social and legal spheres. Jacopo Coghe, spokesperson for the Pro Vita & Famiglia organization, denounced the inconsistency of the Italian legal system, which prevents a minor under 14 from getting a tattoo or being criminally liable for serious offenses, but allows hormonal treatments and legal sex changes.
“It’s absolute madness,” Coghe stated, announcing that his organization will fight to amend Italian legislation and prevent minors from being subjected to sexual transition processes. The spokesperson also highlighted the contradiction of a judiciary that authorizes this type of decision while, in other cases, removing custody from families for alleged educational deficiencies.
A legal vacuum with profound consequences
Italy does not have a law that establishes a minimum age to begin a gender transition, neither from a medical nor a legal standpoint. The 2011 legislation also eliminated the requirement for surgery to modify the registered sex. In Europe, the landscape is uneven: Spain has one of the most permissive regulations, while countries like Hungary expressly prohibit these procedures, and others, like Poland, lack specific regulation.
With this ruling, a precedent is consolidated that further expands the margin of judicial action in matters of gender identity applied to minors, despite the fact that the Italian legal system itself considers minors under 14 as subjects who must be especially protected and not fully responsible for their actions.