Why Puerto Rico's new civil code approved by Wanda Vazquez is a cause of concern for LGBTQ+ community
On June 1, amid the coronavirus pandemic and the George Floyd riots, and for the first time in nearly a century, Puerto Rico overhauled a series of laws that regulate rights in the US territory including marriage, abortion and property ownership without having held any public hearings. Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vazquez signed into law the new civil code on Monday (June 1) night. The new civil code replaces the one created in 1930 and contains more than 130 amendments, which have been raising concerns that some new amendments could lead to loopholes in what is considered to be Puerto Rico's second most important legal document after its Constitution.
Among those amendments that have been criticized include what the LGBTQ+ community has decried as having obscure and contradicting language regarding the ongoing right to change one's gender on their birth certificate. The old Puerto Rican laws contained anti-LBGTQ+ rights language, said Representative Jose Melendez to Reuters. “What is being done is updating,” he said. For example, marriage has been described as a contract between “two people” rather than a man and a woman, reflecting the 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage.
However, experts warn that ambiguous and contradictory wording in the code could create legal hurdles for trans people. According to the new code, nothing "undermines the already established process" for a person to legally change gender, but amendments to a person's birth gender on original birth certificates "cannot be authorized."
“On its face, it seems as if there’s nothing wrong, but if you scratch the surface, there’s an obvious intent to discriminate,” Rafael Cox Alomar, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia, told Reuters. A 2018 court ruling had ordered the island's lawmakers to recognize trans people's gender on legal documents. The new civil code would keep birth certificates and other forms of ID as they are, with sex at birth. The person's acquired gender will instead be added in the margins -- which would out the individual once such documents are presented.
“If on the one hand you’re prohibiting it and on the other, you are allowing it, it’s clearly unconstitutional,” said Pedro Julio Serrano, an LGBT+ campaigner to Reuters. In a statement, Lambda Legal, a national legal organization that fights for the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV, said before the new civil code was signed into law, "However, the proposed new Civil Code still falls woefully short of reflecting the progress we have made in our society and fails to recognize modern families. In the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and the wave of violence affecting transgender people in the Island, Puerto Rico’s legislature chose to prioritize a flawed new Civil Code, without the benefit of public hearings or an open process."
The Human Rights Campaign issued a statement saying, "We condemn anti-equality leaders’ furtive attempts to use this process as a way to target LGBTQ Puerto Ricans. The secrecy surrounding the codes and the legislative process is particularly troubling in the context of the [ongoing] global pandemic, which has critically hampered the ability for citizens to participate and make their voices heard. Governor Wanda Vazquez must stand up for LGBTQ Puerto Ricans and for democracy by slowing down this process and allowing all to participate in shaping the future of the island."