The Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, has passed the country’s first ever transgender recognition legislation.
MP Anna Grodzka introduced the Gender Accordance Act in May 2012 and it was passed on Thursday by 252 votes to 158, with 11 absentions.
Poland has legally recognised transgender citizens since the 1960s, although the legal criteria of what it meant to be transgender had not before been fully codified.
Under the new law an unmarried transgender citizen is legally eligible to apply for a new birth certificate and new education and employment documentation without having to undergo surgery or hormone therapy.
“It is a huge victory for trans people in Poland,” Wiktor Dynarski, president of the Polish advocacy group Trans-Fuzja Foundation, said.
For the bill to become law early next year, it still needs to be passed by the senate and signed by the president.
Grodzka, Poland’s first openly transgender MP, was elected in 2011. In May, parliament again voted against having a debate on gay civil partnerships.
