Trans Six-Year-Old Is Argentina's Youngest to Amend Gender on Birth Certificate

A six-year-old girl named Luana, or "Lulu" for short, may be the youngest person ever in Argentina to legally change her gender from that which she was assigned at birth, reports the U.K. Telegraph.

Argentina enacted its new gender identity law in May 2012, which permits individuals to determine their own sex and gender, and be identified appropriately on their national identity card, the DNI, as well as their birth certificate, according to the Telegraph.

Lulu's mother, Gabriela, petitioned Buenos Aires Mayor Daniel Scioli and Argentine president Cristina Kirchner to allow her daughter to be legally recognized as female, though she was assigned male at birth. Gabriela told the public officials that her daughter has identified as female since she first began to speak.

"By accepting that my son was not the son I gave birth to, but a girl, I accepted her identity and put myself at her side," Gabriela told the Telegraph from Buenos Aires.

Gabriela first filed the request for her daughter's legal gender change last December, but was denied because of her daughter's young age. But Argentina's secretary of children, youth, and family subsequently overturned that decision, citing international human rights doctrine that determined a person under 14 can legally consent to such a change.

Following that decision, Mayor Scioli approved Lulu's application to change her name on her DNI and birth certificate, reports the Telegraph.

"The government of the province of Buenos Aires has decided to provide a solution to this particular case raised by the family," Scioli's chief of staff, Alberto Perez, reportedly told Spanish-language news outlet La Nacion.

Argentinian reports claim Lulu's case is the first in the world where a transgender child has been able to change their legal gender through an administrative process, without turning to the judicial system.