The paper reviews the process that led to the promulgation of Law 164 in 1982 (“Rules for rectification of sex”) and the jurisprudential developments that followed. The current Italian legislation does not adequately protect the rights of all persons who do not unambiguously recognize themselves in a single gender. Despite the numerous jurisprudential interventions that, over the years, extended the decisional liberties of trans people, above all with regard to the possibility of choosing whether or not to undergo surgery, our legal system is still stuck on the assumption that each person should be identified only with one and only gender.
Key words: rights, transgender, law