HEALTH CARE FOR TRANSSEXUAL PEOPLE: EQUALITY AND SELF-DETERMINATION OF GENDER IDENTITY

All too often, transsexuals are subject to social, health and legal discrimination. Despite legal advances, transsexuals belong to a social group in need of legal and healthcare protection in Spain. That is why it is necessary to carry out a legislative review of the Spanish health system in order to know the benefits and services intended for the care of transsexual people. There are situations of inequality in access of benefits, as well as interferences with people's own gender identity according to the place of residence, due to the Spanish territorial decentralization combined with a lack of unequivocal state regulation and the shortage of Gender Identity Units. Based upon the foregoing, there is a need for rewording some legal and health concepts, in order to accommodate the different ways of gender expression, as well as the free development of the personality that includes a self-definition beyond the binary angle and genitalia. The binary gender classification system is still present in our society. For this reason, Social Work must promote respect for diversity, in addition to contributing to the deconstruction of gender.