Transgender people in Ireland have won legal recognition of their status through the passage of a law allowing them to change their legal gender with no medical or state intervention.
The majority of countries in Europe require transgender people to undergo surgery and sterilization, be diagnosed with a mental disorder and get divorced if married in order to have their desired gender legally recognized.
The Gender Recognition Bill, passed late on Wednesday and set to be signed into law by the end of July, makes Ireland only the third European nation, after Denmark and Malta, to allow transgender people aged over 18 to change their legal gender without intervention.