There are more and more voices asking for sex not to appear on the DNI, just as other data such as marital status or profession no longer appear Throughout the history of the DNI in Spain, sex has not always been shown on all identity documents “Today, showing the sex on the DNI is not essential, or even necessary, to facilitate the identification of a person, which is the purpose of the National Identity Document,” says Saul Castro, a jurist This Wednesday, United We Can , ERC, EH Bildu, Junts, BNG, PdeCAT, PNV, Más País, Compromis and Coalición Canaria have registered eleven joint amendments to the Trans Law, among which it is worth noting that in official documents, such as the DNI or the passport, it can be omitted mention of sex. This would mean the recognition of non-binary people (those who do not consider themselves to be of either sex) from the administrations. And the question is, why do you put the sex on the DNI or in the passport? Does it have a real utility? The data of sex in the DNI has not always been present throughout the document models that have existed in Spain. Between 1962 and 1980, in the second and third identification models, data on sex was excluded and other data such as blood group or marital status were incorporated. Spain and other countries also considered at a certain time that aspects such as religion, economic situation, marital status or skin color should appear on their identification documents. That is no longer the case today, but sex is still maintained. Hence, many question: should it stop appearing in an identification document? Comply with the Royal Decree of 2005 According to National Police sources, sex in the National Identity Document is an identification issue and is regulated in article 11 of the Royal Decree 1553/2005 of December 23, which states that the following data will be collected in the DNI: name, nationality, sex, address. Beyond complying with the Royal Decree, the National Police does not give any other reason. First Spanish DNI in 1951 that showed the National Police sex boxOther sources consulted explain that the sex or gender on the DNI would justify some things, such as the separation in cells of one and the other in dungeons, the different requirements in physical tests of access to call for public offer (police, firefighters) or participation in sports competitions. Citizen Security Law: the DNI cannot have information on sexual identity Blanca Rodríguez Ruiz, Professor of International Law at the University of Seville and head of the Binasex Research Project, assures that sex is put on the DNI because it is regulated by article 11 of the Royal Decree 1553/2005 of December 23. “What is striking is that this should always be justified and right now it is not justified anywhere. And much more, having the Organic Law 4/2015, of March 30, on the protection of citizen security, which states in article 8: “The National Identity Document will include the photograph and signature of its owner, as well as the personal data determined by regulation, which will respect the right to privacy of the person, without in any case being related to race. , ethnicity, religion, beliefs, opinion, ideology, disability, sexual orientation or identity, or political or trade union affiliation. The support card of the National Identity Document will incorporate the necessary security measures to achieve quality and inalterability conditions and maximum guarantees to prevent its falsification”, says the BOE. Second Spanish DNI in 1962, which excluded sex and included the state civil and blood group National Police “This law is superior and subsequent to the Royal Decree and must be complied with, or at least justified. Showing information of this caliber affects privacy and data protection”, affirms Rodríguez. “That does not mean that sex cannot be put on the DNI, what it means is that the public powers must justify, and very well, why it is put, based on the principle of proportionality, and explain what purpose it seeks to put the sex data on the DNI. The purpose must be constitutionally legitimate, and here nothing is justified, it is taken for granted.” The professor of Constitutional Law assures that “beyond the Trans Law, here there is a problem of first law from normative sources. There is a later and higher law that says otherwise. Unless we understand that only non-normative people have a sexual identity, and that argument is not acceptable, the problem is that it is in the collective subconscious and it is tremendously discriminatory.” Saul Castro, a lawyer specializing in LTGBI rights, agrees with her. which states that “today it does not seem relevant to show the sex on the DNI considering that the photo, the number, the name, the surnames appear and in the electronic DNI the biometric data is included in the chip, for this reason, it does not seem that showing the sex is essential, or even necessary, to facilitate the identification of a person, which is the purpose of the national identity document”. First electronic DNI that incorporates sex again and leaves out the marital statusNational Police” all identification documents include it, there are already states in the US where sex has already begun to be eliminated and some European countries, such as Belgium, have already indicated that from a legal point of view n o It was necessary and made it easy for everyone who could choose to remove it if they preferred not to expose it. On the other hand, Olga Burgos, a lawyer and specialist in anti-discrimination law, says that when you have to buy a house or get divorced, you should ask for a document that states that you are married or not, if you are in marital property or whatever, For this reason, the same could be done with sex on the DNI. It should be shown only when necessary”. In addition, he indicates that one of the cases he is handling now is of a non-binary person. is recognized in Spain.”There are many technical identification systems that do not require gender. I think there are many problems that we will have to solve and we will surely go to a system where the privacy of identity is more protected”. “Showing sex to enter a library does not make sense” “I am not saying that it should be eliminated the sex marker in all documents, for example, in medical documents is important, just like other biological factors, but in an administrative document it is useless, when in addition, thanks to the development of the society in which we live other identities, who no longer understand gender as something binary are being able to live in freedom and express themselves. The fact of continuing to maintain the sex marker, if it does not include all the possible options, first is preventing the correct identification of people and second, with the technological advances that exist right now, it is totally unnecessary,” says Castro. Blanca Rodríguez affirms that “This is pure classificatory inertia that has exclusionary effects. One of the things that non-binary people ask for is that they don’t have to show their sex, since right now it seems that you can only be one of the things, man or woman, that this information is held by the public authorities, it is very lawful, but do not have to show sex continuously. That to catch a train, to go to the library, to get a discount, you have to show your sex escapes me, we are facing a flagrant violation of the legal system itself and there is also a law that prohibits it”, concludes Banca Rodríguez. “It is Furthermore, as explained before, not all Spanish identity documents have always shown the gender, so with even more reason, it is clear that it is not essential to identify anyone. It does not offer any real utility”, defends the lawyer. The history of the DNI in Spain The first DNI in Spain was issued on March 20, 1951 in Valencia. It was chosen by contest published in the BOE on May 10, 1946 in which urged citizens to present their sketches to win a prize consisting of 30,000 pesetas. The winner was the model presented by D. Aquilino Rieusset Planchón. The first DNI model was green, included information such as employment, profession or position and distinguished between four categories depending on the economic situation of the holder.In addition, it incorporated the Director’s signature on the back.It was in force from March 1951 to 1961 (included).From 1962 to 1965, the second model of DNI arrived, blue in color and which incorporated data such as blood group and marital status, with the data on sex disappearing.The third card model maintains the same characteristics as its predecessor, that is, the data on sex is excluded and eliminated. in the signature of the Director. It was in force from 1965 to 1980. The fourth model, from 1981 to 1985, incorporates the constitutional coat of arms, eliminating the economic categories, and recovering the data on sex that had disappeared in 1962. The fifth version of the DNI, from 1986 to 1991, granted a expiration of 10 years for those over 30 and eliminated the obligation to record marital status, blood group and profession. In 1990 the computerized DNI arrived: there were three versions, in the first there was no fingerprint and two lines of OCR characters. The second featured the photograph in color and added a new line of OCR characters. The third adds a line with the Spanish identification (IDESP) and the gender section is recorded MF (female) and VM (Masculine) In 2005 the first DNI that incorporates CHIP arrives, turning the National Identity Document into an electronic document. It is also a laser-engraved polycarbonate card, with the same measurements as a conventional credit card. Allows connection to telematic services, through a card reader connected to the computer.