[:en]Revolutionary ruling by the Constitutional Court for trans* and non-binary people[:]

The Constitutional Court has filed ruling no. 143, marking an important turning point for the rights of transgender people in Italy and responding to questions of constitutional legitimacy raised by the Court of Bolzano where a transgender person requested the assignment of a “non-binary” gender. .
The Court stated that it could not accept this request because the introduction of a third gender requires comprehensive legislative intervention: this therefore encourages Parliament to establish a new law to supersede the obsolete 164/1982 that therefore also takes gender neutrality into account.
This denial, while acknowledging the binary logic that pervades the current legal system, highlights the urgent need for legislative reform that recognizes identities that cannot be traced back to either masculine or feminine, following up on the demands that we, as trans* associations and activists, have been making for decades.
The Constitutional Court has recognized that the perception of not belonging to the female or male gender fuels significant distress, compromising the psychological and physical well-being of many non-binary people who are not considered. Arcigay has repeatedly pointed out that gender segregation represents a significant obstacle for non-binary transgender people, especially in exercising their right to vote, as well as in accessing public healthcare, participating in sports, and many other aspects of daily life. This ruling raises the issue again, encouraging legislators to legislate accordingly.
Furthermore, secondly, but no less importantly, the Constitutional Court declared Article 31, paragraph 4, of Legislative Decree No. 150 of 2011 unconstitutional. Thanks to this historic ruling, the court-authorized surgical procedures for transgender people are now unconstitutional. In other words, all transgender people will be able to access affirmative surgery without a judicial authorization ruling and will enjoy the same principle of self-determination as any other person wishing to access surgery according to their conscience and without judicial scrutiny. The court process remains mandatory only for requests to obtain a registry correction. It remains to be seen in more detail how this ruling will be enforceable to ensure access to hospital surgical lists without judicial authorization, without unequal treatment compared to operations performed by cisgender individuals. In 2015, following the "Another Gender is Possible" campaign, access to registry document rectification was granted even without the requirement to undergo surgery. However, until now, access to surgery required authorization with a final judgment from the court of residence. The revolution we are witnessing today, if implemented without court proceedings for surgeries, represents a significant first liberation of trans bodies from judicial authority. This means that each person will no longer be forced to endure the bureaucratic delays of Italian courts and will be responsible for exercising their own self-determination like any other person, in accordance with Article 3 of the Constitution, cited in this historic ruling, which states: "All citizens have equal social dignity and are equal before the law without distinction of sex, race, language, religion, political opinion, or personal and social conditions." In this sense, today's ruling represents an important act of liberation for trans bodies and a significant incentive for the legislature to take a step forward for the rights of transgender and non-binary people in Italy, so that every person, regardless of their gender identity, can live with dignity and respect.