The new law, which yesterday cleared the upper house of the Spanish parliament by 191–60 with 91 abstentions, will scrap existing requirements for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and evidence of having undergone hormone therapy for at least two years.

It will allow over-16s to change their legal gender by making a statutory declaration. Children aged 14 or 15 will be able to change their gender with parental permission, and children aged 12 or 13 will also be able in certain circumstances to do so through application to the courts.

Spain’s equality minister Irene Montero, from the left-wing Podemos party, said: “Today we have taken a giant step forward. This law recognises the right of trans people to self-determine their gender identity, it depathologises trans people.

“Trans people are not sick people, they are just people.”

The self-declaration model of gender recognition is now the law in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Uruguay.