The impact of Spanish “Trans Law” on trans parents and children

20 June 2024

4.00 pm - 5.00pm

Abstract

The impact of Spanish “Trans Law” on trans parents and children

On March 2 2023 the Law for the full and effective equality of trans people and for the guarantee of LGBTI rights (“Trans Law” from now on) came into force in Spain. As well as the option for self determination when it comes to legal gender recognition (LGR), which is among its most noteworthy developments, the Law also comprises state measures aimed at promoting equal treatment for LGBTI and especially trans people in a range of ambits such as public administration, labour, health, education, sports and the media, together with tools and remedies aimed at preventing discrimination and violence against these groups. My talk will focus on the legal reforms that impact family law, with special attention to underage children’s access to LGR and the establishing of legal parenthood for trans people. The former, which was one of the most controversial topics during the parliamentary process, is permitted in the same conditions as for adults for children aged 16 or over. LGR is allowed for under-16s on the basis of specific age bands and subject to different requirements. Where the status of trans parents is concerned, the “Trans Law” adds more neutral non-binary terms to the traditional legal references of mother and father. However, the terminology overhaul is far from uniform and brings in some major reforms of parenthood law which lack legal technique.

Speaker bio

Esther Farnós Amorós
I am an Associate Professor of Civil Law (with tenure) at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where I graduated in 2002 and obtained my Phd (2010) with a thesis on disputes over frozen embryos after divorce (IV Extraordinary Ph.D. in Law Prize, 2011). It was followed by a book on consent to assisted reproductive technologies (Consentimiento a la reproducción asistida. Crisis de pareja y disposición de embriones, Atelier, 2011), which was awarded the XIV Prize for Bioethical Research (Fundació Víctor Grífols i Lucas, 2012). I have been conducting research at the Oxford Centre for Family Law and Policy (Oxford
University, 2005-2006) and Cornell Law School (Cornell University, 2007-2008), among other institutions. I have been Visiting lecturer in Civil Law at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (2013-2014) and Universitat de Girona (2019-2020). At Universitat Pompeu Fabra I currently take part in a research project on self-determination in personal and family law and in a Consolidated Research Group for Patrimonial Law. My main research interests lie in the fields of the law of persons and the family, although I have also explored the law of damages and succession law. Most of my works, published by renowned publishing houses and journals both at national and international level, deal with topics such as family self-determination, parenthood -with special attention to parenthood resulting from access to assisted reproductive technologies-, the effectiveness of surrogacy agreements and the right to know one’s biological and genetic origins. I received a Catalan Private Law prize for a project on rethinking parenthood which led to the book El dret de filiació avui. Una reflexió sobre el paper de la biologia, la voluntat i els conceptes “pare” i “mare” (Atelier, 2023).

I am currently a member of the Personal and Family Law Section of the Codification Committee of Catalonia, as well as of the regional Committee in charge of developing the Organic Act on Euthanasia and of the Bioethics Committee of Catalonia. As national expert, I have collaborated to several reports and comparative works on grounds for divorce (Nuffield Foundation, 2019), surrogacy (Intersentia, 2019) and parenthood (forthcoming). I am part of the Institute of European and Comparative Private Law at the University of Girona