O princípio da autonomia da vontade e o processo de alteração do sexo jurídico de transexuais no registro civil

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze transsexual people’s juridical situation once there is not specific law in the country to regulate sex change in the civil registration. Due to the fact there is not such law, transsexual people’s destiny is up to magistrates. Given this situation, we question: do the criteria adopted by judges whether to concede sex change or not respect the principle of autonomy of will? Analysis of this work started by a biographic and documental explanation related to transsexuals and medical knowlodge determinations, besides a reflection about opposing understandings to transsexual people legal gender changing, their personal conceptions and how it negatively affects constitutional principles, mainly the dignity of the human being. Then, we have proceded with a juridical survey of the Courts of Justice of Rio Grande do Sul and of São Paulo about the changing of the legal gender not conditioned to previous sex reassignment surgery, which allowed us to reflect empirically on this subject. It was found the importance of a specific law to regulate the changing in the civil registration of transsexual people in a way to adequate them to their new reality. This study is justified because the debate is current, interdisciplinary and mainly for the necessity of the Law to follow the new social demands.