(CN) - A Bulgarian transgender woman who built a life in Italy won a major legal victory Thursday after the EU's top court found member states cannot refuse to update a citizen's gender records once that person moves across the bloc.

She had asked Bulgarian authorities to correct the gender and name recorded in the country's civil registry so her identity documents would match her gender identity. After Bulgarian courts refused, the nation's Supreme Court of Cassation asked the Court of Justice of the European Union whether EU law requires member states to allow such changes for citizens living elsewhere in the bloc.

In its judgment, the court said EU law "must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a member state which does not permit the amendment of gender data, such as the sex, family name, patronymic, first name and personal identification number, recorded in the civil status registers of that member state, of a national of that member state who has exercised his or her right to move and reside freely in another member state."

The judges also rejected a key argument raised in Bulgaria, where courts had relied on a constitutional interpretation blocking legal gender recognition, saying national courts cannot treat such rulings as binding when they conflict with EU law.

The applicant, identified in court documents as K.M.H., is a Bulgarian citizen born in 1990 who now lives in Italy with her partner. According to findings by Bulgaria's Supreme Court of Cassation, she had felt since childhood that she was a woman and later began hormone treatment after consulting medical specialists.

Because Bulgaria's civil registry still lists the sex assigned at birth, her identity documents do not reflect the life she has built abroad.

The judges said that mismatch is not merely bureaucratic. When identity papers fail to reflect a person's lived gender, they said, it can create serious day-to-day difficulties and undermine both private life and a person's ability to function normally in another EU country.

Legal scholars and rights advocates said the ruling could have broad implications for transgender rights across the European Union.

Pieter Cannoot, professor of law and diversity and legal scholar at Ghent University, said the judgment strengthens a growing line of EU case law limiting national restrictions on the recognition of LGBTQ identities. The court, he said, has "taken an important step towards recognizing a right to legal gender recognition in the EU," linking the issue not only to free movement but also to fundamental rights such as privacy and nondiscrimination.

Other scholars see the decision as part of a broader shift in EU constitutional law. Uladzislau Belavusau, senior researcher in European law at the University of Amsterdam and the T.M.C. Asser Institute, said the ruling reflects a broader shift in EU law, where the accuracy of identity documents is increasingly tied to the practical exercise of EU citizenship. In his view, the judgment shows the court moving toward what he calls the rise of "sexual citizenship" in the union, where recognition of gender identity becomes part of how free movement rights function in practice.

Advocates stressed the ruling's practical consequences for people whose documents do not match their identity.

Marie Ludwig, senior strategic litigation adviser at ILGA-Europe, which supported the applicant and her legal team in the case, said the judgment strengthens the EU's legal basis to act against member states that still block legal gender recognition.

Richard Khler, expert adviser and litigation lead on transgender rights at Transgender Europe, said the decision addresses everyday obstacles created by mismatched documents. "Everyone should have the right to documents recognizing, not denying, who they are," he said.

Lawyers involved in the case said the judgment also exposes a longstanding legal gap in Bulgaria.

Denitsa Lyubenova, attorney and co-chair of the LGBTI organization Deystvie who represented the applicant, said the ruling addresses a long-standing legal vacuum in Bulgaria. "This case concerns the dignity, equality and legal certainty of trans people," she said, noting that while pending cases must now move forward, many Bulgarians living in their own country still lack a legal path to update their personal data.

Alexander Schuster, also an attorney who represented the applicant, said the ruling sends a clear signal to countries that still block legal gender recognition. "The outcome is very positive and confirms the union's commitment to protecting fundamental rights and minorities," he said, noting in countries such as Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria many transgender people still cannot obtain documents reflecting their identity.

For the woman at the center of the case, the ruling carries a deeply personal meaning.

"This decision will finally allow me to have a Bulgarian passport that respects what I have always been since I can remember, since my childhood: A woman," she said. "I chose to live in Italy a long time ago and this formal step will finally allow me to find a job without being discriminated against."

Bulgarian authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ruling now returns to Bulgaria's Supreme Court of Cassation, which must resolve the case in line with the EU court's interpretation of European law. There is no appeal from the Court of Justice on that point.

That could prove sensitive at home. Bulgaria's Constitutional Court has ruled that legal "sex" is fixed at birth, and in February 2023 the Supreme Court of Cassation followed with a binding interpretative decision saying Bulgarian law offers no procedure for courts to approve changes to gender markers or related personal data in the civil registry. The EU court's ruling now forces Bulgarian judges to confront that legal deadlock when they issue their final decision in the case.

Courthouse News reporter Eunseo Hong is based in the Netherlands.

Source: Courthouse News Service