Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Gender Identity, Human Dignity and Self-Determination in Chile

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Trans Rights and Wrongs

Part of the book series: Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law ((GSCL,volume 54))

  • 736 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter explains the legal regulation of sexual identity in Chile and presents a critical view of recent statutory changes oriented to safeguard the rights of transpersons but actually defective in providing certainty for the exercise of such rights.

The author acknowledges the assistance of Francisco Galli and Diego Cuadra.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    Ruz Lártiga (2011), p. 523.

  2. 2.

    Somarriva Undurraga (1946), p. 485.

  3. 3.

    Ruz, Gonzalo, Explicaciones..., op. cit., p. 253.

  4. 4.

    Since the 2005 constitutional reform, Chile’s Constitutional Court has been solely responsible for overseeing the legality of legislation: “Thus, since 2006 the Constitutional Court has served as the guardian of the regulations, principles and values enshrined in the Constitution, insofar as its previous role in the a priori examination of pending legislation has, since the 2005 reform, been supplemented by a transcendental and crucial a posteriori oversight of the regulations in force. This is effected by means of appeals based on the inapplicability of existing laws [on the grounds of unconstitutionality], which translates in concrete terms into the oversight of legal tenants, as well as the control of constitutionality, with the powers to order the offending provision removed from Chile’s legal system.” (emphasis added) See Colombo Campbell, Juan, “La historia explica el presente y el presente el futuro. Tribunal Constitucional, Memoria 2007 – 2008,” p. 10.

  5. 5.

    Chile’s Constitutional Court, rol 1.340-2009, September 29, 2009, considerando 9.

  6. 6.

    Chile’s Constitutional Court, rol 1.683-2010, January 4, 2011, considerando 51.

  7. 7.

    http://portales.mineduc.cl/usuarios/convivencia_escolar/doc/201307221719000.PDF_formacion_sexualidad.pdf [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  8. 8.

    http://www.mineduc.cl/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2017/01/CartillaUEG.pdf [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  9. 9.

    http://portales.mineduc.cl/usuarios/convivencia_escolar/File/2017/LGBTI_27_04_2017.pdf [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  10. 10.

    https://www.supereduc.cl/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ORD-N%C2%BA0768-DERECHOS-DE-NI%C3%91AS-NI%C3%91OS-Y-ESTUDIANTES-TRANS-EN-EL-%C3%81MBITO-DE-LA-EDUCACI%C3%93N-A-SOSTENEDORES.pdf [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  11. 11.

    [Last accessed 23-06-2017].

  12. 12.

    www.movilh.cl/documentacion/trans/Circular-Salud-Trans.pdf [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  13. 13.

    www.movilh.cl/documentacion/CIRCULAR21MINSAL.pdf [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  14. 14.

    www.minsal.cl/portal/url/item/d126e58ba4cb53f5e040010165017912.pdf [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  15. 15.

    http://web.minsal.cl/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/CONSEJERIA-EN-SALUD-SEXUAL-Y-REPRODUCTIVA-PARA-ADOLESCENTES-2016.pdf [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  16. 16.

    www.sstalcahuano.cl/file/diversidad/Resolucion_y_Protocolo_Trans.pdf [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  17. 17.

    http://www.senado.cl/appsenado/index.php?mo=tramitacion&ac=getDocto&iddocto=2650&tipodoc=docto_comision [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  18. 18.

    www.fundacionrenaciendo.org/images/PROTOCOLOSML.pdf [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  19. 19.

    Gauché Marchetti, Ximena, “La necesidad de una ley de identidad de género en Chile”, 2013, (online) http://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/opinion/2013/05/18/la-necesidad-de-una-ley-de-identidad-de-genero-para-chile/ [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  20. 20.

    Díaz García (2013), p. 667.

  21. 21.

    Ibid.

  22. 22.

    Ibid.

  23. 23.

    In Chile, an individual’s last name is normally recorded with both the both patronymic and the matronymic.

  24. 24.

    Refers to: Barrientos Walls and Llanquilef Candia (2012).

  25. 25.

    Lorca Muñoz, Lorena, “La defensa de las personas transexuales en Chile para obtener el reconocimiento de su identidad de género”. VII Conferencia Internacional de Educación en Derechos Humanos, 2016, (online) http://ihrec2016.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Ponencia-conferencia-internacional-EDH-de-Lorena-Lorca-Muñoz.docx [last accessed 09-06-2017].

  26. 26.

    Ibid.

  27. 27.

    Centro de Derechos Humanos, Universidad Diego Portales, Informe Anual sobre derechos humanos en Chile, Capítulo 9, Diversidad Sexual y Derechos Humanos, 2009, (online) http://www.derechoshumanos.udp.cl/derechoshumanos/images/InformeAnual/2009/Cap%2009%20Diversidad%20sexual%20y%20ddhh.pdf [last accessed 26-01-2017].

  28. 28.

    Cfr. Palavecino Cáceres (2012), p. 97.

  29. 29.

    Barrientos, Luis y Llanquilef, Claudia, Jurisprudencia..., op. cit., pp. 280–281.

  30. 30.

    Barrientos, Luis y Llanquilef, Claudia, Jurisprudencia..., op. cit., pp. 291–293.

  31. 31.

    Ibid.

  32. 32.

    Ibid.

  33. 33.

    Barrientos, Luis y Llanquilef, Claudia, Jurisprudencia..., op. cit., p. 252.

  34. 34.

    Ibid.

  35. 35.

    Ibid.

  36. 36.

    Barrientos, Luis y Llanquilef, Claudia, Jurisprudencia..., op. cit., p. 191.

  37. 37.

    Álvarez Rubio et al. (2015), p. 383.

  38. 38.

    Pacheco Martínez and Silva Jerez (2015).

  39. 39.

    Lorca, Lorena, “La defensa...”, op. cit.

  40. 40.

    Ibid.

  41. 41.

    Espejo Yaksic y Lathrop Gómez (2015), p. 395, footnote n° 4.

  42. 42.

    Cfr. Muñoz León (2015), pp. 1018–1019.

  43. 43.

    Ibid.

  44. 44.

    Cfr. Muñoz León (2016), p. 176.

  45. 45.

    Álvarez, Juan José; Del Pino, Sebastián; Vial, Tomás; et al, “Derechos...”, op. cit, p. 382.

  46. 46.

    Cfr. Palavecino, Adriana, “El derecho...”, op. cit., pp. 97 and 101.

  47. 47.

    See, for example, Pacheco, Jorge and Silva, Eduardo, Análisis..., op cit.

  48. 48.

    www.minsal.cl/portal/url/item/d126e58ba4cb53f5e040010165017912.pdf [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  49. 49.

    Ibid., p. 3.

  50. 50.

    It should be noted that psychotherapy does not seek to correct the discrepancy between biological sex and gender identity, but rather to:

    • Alleviate the stress, discomfort and conflicts associated with the discrepancy between gender identity and sex, which could threaten a stable lifestyle.

    • Work and develop concerns and conflicts related to gender identity.

    • Work and support the grappling with physiological alignment.

  51. 51.

    See press note: Herrera, Lilith, “Policlínico Identidad de Género de Valparaíso: las irregularidades que afectan su funcionamiento”, (online) http://www.laizquierdadiario.cl/Policlinico-Identidad-de-Genero-de-Valparaiso-las-irregularidades-que-afectan-su-funcionamiento [last accessed 23-06-17].

  52. 52.

    Fonasa is Chile’s public health insurance program. Private insurance is available through Isapres (see below).

  53. 53.

    Aguayo Ormeño et al. (2016).

  54. 54.

    Cfr. Fundación Iguales, “Incidencia Política, ley de identidad de género”, (online) https://www.iguales.cl/incidencia-politica/ley-de-identidad-de-genero/ [last accessed 10-02-2017].

  55. 55.

    Fundación Iguales, “Abogada de la U. de concepción lidera proyecto de ley sobre identidad de género”, 2013, (online) https://www.iguales.cl/abogada-de-la-u-de-concepcion-lidera-proyecto-de-ley-sobre-identidad-de-genero/ [last accessed 10-02-2017].

  56. 56.

    Del Pino Rubio and Verbal Stockmeyer (2016), pp. 187–188.

  57. 57.

    This perspective contrasts with the reality of living conditions of children and adolescents in Chile. In this regard, in Observatorio de Derechos Humanos–Chile (Andrés Rivera Duarte), International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), “Situation of Trans and Intersex Children in Chile, Submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child on the Occasion of Its Pre-sessional Working Group Meeting to Consider Chile’s joint Fourth and Fifth Periodic Report, 2015, we see the following: “A study by the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) placed Chile as the Latin American country with the highest rate of reported homophobic bullying among LGBTI students (68 percent of LGBTI students report to have suffered some kind of bullying). Another study, by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED) marks Chile as the second country, after South Korea, with the fastest growing rate of suicides among children, generally.” (p. 3). Further on, this report indicates that: “In 2014, the Chilean government created the National Children’s Council by Supreme Decree 21, with a view to advancing towards a more comprehensive fulfillment of state obligations on children’s human rights at the national level. On December 30, 2014, this Council circulated an invitation to civil society organizations working on sexual diversity, for them to participate in a January 2015 meeting on this topic, considering that the National Policy on Childhood and Adolescence is due to be launched in March 2015. It is paramount that this new policy appropriately reflects the needs and rights of LGBTI children in Chile.” (p. 4).

  58. 58.

    Article 1 paragraph 3 of the Constitution reads that the State is at the service of the individual and its goal is to promote common welfare. To this effect, it must contribute to the creation of the social conditions which permit each and every one of the members of the national community to achieve the greatest possible spiritual and material fulfillment, with full respect for the rights and guarantees established by this Constitution.

  59. 59.

    Cfr. Espejo, Nicolás and Lathrop, Fabiola, “Identidad…”, op. cit., pp. 393–418.

  60. 60.

    Articles 61 to 66 of the Law of Civil Marriage No. 19,947 and Law of Family Courts No. 19,968.

  61. 61.

    Cfr. Grupo Del Banco Mundial, Women, Business and the Law 2016: Getting to Equal. Banco Mundial, Washington, DC, 2015, (online) http://wbl.worldbank.org/~/media/WBG/WBL/Documents/Reports/2016/Women-Business-and-the-Law-2016.pdf [last accessed on 23-06-17].

  62. 62.

    Cfr. Superintendencia de Salud, Discriminación, equidad de género y reforma de salud en el Sistema Isapre, 2008, (online) http://www.supersalud.gob.cl/documentacion/666/articles-4992_recurso_1.pdf [last accessed 23-06-17].

  63. 63.

    https://oii.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Circular-08-22.12.15-Instruye-Sobre-Ciertos-Aspectos-de-la-atencion-de-Salud-a-Ninos-y-Ninas-Intersex.pdf [last accessed 26-06-17].

  64. 64.

    https://www.registrocivil.cl/PortalOI/PDF/Banner_de_genero_Final.pdf [last accessed 23-06-2017].

  65. 65.

    http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/175556/1/9789241564984_eng.pdf [last accessed 26-06-17].

  66. 66.

    https://brujulaintersexual.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/circular-7.pdf [last accessed 26-06-17].

  67. 67.

    Observatorio De Derechos Humanos–Chile (Andrés Rivera Duarte), International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), “Situation of…”, op. cit., p. 5: “Medical professionals operate with discretion as to whether or not intersex infants will be subjected to unnecessary and irreversible surgery to visually resemble “normal” male or female bodies.”

References

  • Aguayo Ormeño I, Lampert Grassi MP, Meza-Lopehandía GM (2016) Derecho a adecuar la apariencia a la identidad de género y su cobertura en el sistema de salud. Asesoría Técnica Parlamentaria. Departamento de Estudios, Extensión y Publicaciones, (online) https://www.bcn.cl/asesoriasparlamentarias/categorias?id=1&pag=8&K=1&sort=fecha_desc [last accessed 23-06-2017]

  • Álvarez Rubio JJ, Del Pino Rubio S, Vial Solar T et al (2015) Derechos de la diversidad sexual 2015: avances y falencias. In: de Derechos Humanos C (ed) Informe Anual sobre derechos humanos en Chile. Universidad Diego Portales, p 383

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrientos Walls L, Llanquilef Candia C (2012) Jurisprudencia de los tribunales civiles de Santiago sobre solicitudes de rectificación de partida de nacimiento en cuanto al nombre y en cuanto al sexo formuladas por personas transexuales durante los años 2005-2009. Universidad de Chile – Facultad de Derecho, Santiago, Chile, (online) http://www.repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/112757> [last accessed 09-06-17]

  • Del Pino Rubio S, Verbal Stockmeyer V (2016) El proyecto de ley de identidad de género. Una aproximación a sus disposiciones y fundamentos. Liminales. Escritos sobre psicología y sociedad 7:187–188, (online) http://revistafacso.ucentral.cl/index.php/liminales/article/view/176 [last accessed 11-11-2016]

  • Díaz García I (2013) Ley chilena contra la discriminación: una evaluación desde los derechos internacional y constitucional. Revista Chilena de Derecho 40(2):667

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Espejo Yaksic N, Lathrop Gómez F (2015) Identidad de Género, Relaciones Familiares y Derechos de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes. Revista de Derecho de la Universidad Católica del Norte 22(2):395

    Google Scholar 

  • Muñoz León F (2015) El reconocimiento legal de la transexualidad en Chile mediante el procedimiento judicial de cambio de nombre: Un caso de complementariedad epistemológica entre medicina y derecho. Revista Médica de Chile 143(8):1018–1019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muñoz León F (2016) Cisnormatividad y transnormatividad como ideologías que articulan el tratamiento jurídico de la condición trans. Revista Austral de Ciencias Sociales 30(2):176

    Google Scholar 

  • Pacheco Martínez J, Silva Jerez E (2015) Análisis de la legislación, procedimiento y jurisprudencia de las rectificaciones de partida de nacimiento por cambio de nombre y sexo de personas transexuales. Universidad de Chile - Facultad de Derecho, Santiago, Chile, (online) <http://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/131900> [last accessed 09-06-2017]

  • Palavecino Cáceres A (2012) El derecho a la identidad de las personas transgéneros. In: Justicia, Género y Sexualidad: primer encuentro académico Santiago de Chile 2009. Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Derecho, Centro de Derechos Humanos, p 97

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruz Lártiga G (2011) Explicaciones del Derecho Civil. Derecho de las personas en familia, Tomo V, AbeledoPerrot, Santiago de Chile, p 523

    Google Scholar 

  • Somarriva Undurraga M (1946) Derecho de Familia. Nascimento, Santiago de Chile, p 485

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil Law, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Chile (Santiago de Chile), Santiago, RM, Chile

    Fabiola Lathrop

Authors
  1. Fabiola Lathrop
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fabiola Lathrop .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

    Isabel C. Jaramillo

  2. Department of Law, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Laura Carlson

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Lathrop, F. (2021). Gender Identity, Human Dignity and Self-Determination in Chile. In: Jaramillo, I.C., Carlson, L. (eds) Trans Rights and Wrongs. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 54. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68494-5_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68494-5_17

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-68493-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-68494-5

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation