March 18th, 2021, 11:00 a.m., MRU PhD Law student Daiva Petrėnaitė will defend her doctoral dissertation, "Prospects for the Recognition of the Right to Gender Identity and Regulatory Issues Related to Gender Reassignment". The defence will take place online on the "Zoom" platform: https://zoom.us/j/97004452060 (please indicate your name and surname).

Dissertation Theme: "Prospects for the Recognition of the Right to Gender Identity and Regulatory Issues Related to Gender Reassignment"

Scientific Supervisors:

• Prof. Dr. Toma Birmontienė (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law, S 001), 2019–2021;
• Prof. Dr. Jonas Juškevičius (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law, S 001), 2018–2019;
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Agnė Širinskienė (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law, S 001), 2015–2018.

Defence Board:

• Chairman – Prof. Dr. Gediminas Mesonis (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law, S 001).

Members:

• Prof. Dr. Darijus Beinoravičius (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law, S 001);
• Prof. Dr. Ieva Deviatnikovaitė (Mykolas Romeris University, Social Sciences, Law, S 001);
• Prof. Dr. Vytautas Mizaras (Vilnius University, Social Sciences, Law, S 001);
• Prof. Hab. Dr. Anna Rytel-Warzocha (University of Gdansk, Poland, Social Sciences, Law, S 001).

The doctoral thesis raises the following issues: ‘What is gender identity and whether the recognition of gender identity is significant for the society and the law?’ ‘To what extent does it affect solution of issues related to exercise of rights by a person who has undergone gender reassignment?’ ‘Why transsexuality as part of gender identity is recognised in medical science as a gender identity disorder?’ ‘Does it not violate the dignity of transgender persons if they are regarded as people with a mental disorder?’ The present thesis defines the concept of gender identity, discloses the content of the right to change gender, analyses theoretical and practical issues of new gender identity recognition and issues pertaining to the regulatory framework of the rights of transgender persons.

The purpose of the study was to prove that gender identity is part of human dignity and private life. The analysis of case law demonstrated that the lack of the regulatory framework that would enable exercising of the right to gender identity by transgender persons in Lithuania allows making an assumption of inconsistent case law being developed in Lithuania, while change of gender in personal legal documents shall be related not only to physical intervention into a human body, but also to the psychological self-identification with the opposite gender.