The requirement that transgenders undergo sterilization before the government will change their gender identity on official documents.

This is, we are told, the law in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine.

All of these countries belong to the European Convention on Human Rights, and The European Court of Human Rights has just held that the requirement violates Article 8 of the convention, which provides that "everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence."