Paraguay's Pioneering Gender Identity Case: Lawyer Recounts 'Fidel-Fidela' Lawsuit

In Paraguay, a groundbreaking legal battle from the mid-1990s is being revisited, highlighting the country's early steps toward recognizing gender identity. Lawyer María Gloria Bobadilla shared the details of the "Fidel-Fidela" case, initiated in 1993, where her client, Fidel Ramón Sanabria, sought to legally change his name to Fidela Ramona and his sex to female.

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He came to me specifically in 1993 and asked me to file a lawsuit that was truly... in a very machista society like ours. Today, society is more open, we could say.

This was a pioneering lawsuit in a society described as highly machista. Bobadilla filed the case against the Public Ministry, presenting extensive evidence. This included psychological and forensic reports from doctors René Molina and Roque Vallejos, along with authenticated copies of documents detailing a "neoadaptation perineal" surgery performed in Chile, which had placed her client's life at risk.

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We filed a lawsuit against the Public Ministry. He wanted to change his name and sex; he wanted to be called Fidela Ramona and also for his sex to be changed to female. It was a long lawsuit, in civil and commercial court.

Fidel-Fidela had previously attempted to assert her identity in Italy, where she lived as an artist and faced challenges related to her presentation. Testimonies from two Paraguayan individuals confirmed her consistently feminine profile. The legal process in Paraguay spanned three years, culminating in a favorable recommendation from prosecutor María del Carmen Zuccolillo de Montero on December 21, 1995. She advised the judge to grant the rectification of name and sex as requested.

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She had undergone an operation in Chile, whose documents I still have in original form today and were presented as authenticated copies in the file, and a procedure called neoadaptation perineal had been performed, which truly put her life at risk.

However, the case stalled at the stage of final arguments, awaiting the judge's sentence. Bobadilla noted that the judge hesitated to issue a ruling, likely due to the significant social weight and potential controversy the decision carried at the time. The lawyer herself faced criticism for pursuing the case.

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She recommends to the judge that a sentence be issued granting the present lawsuit and ordering the rectification of name and sex as requested by the plaintiff.