Transsexualism is characterised by a person's strong wish to belong to the opposite sex and the obsessional desire to align their assigned sex to that with which they truly identify; it is a firm belief. For a long time, the chromosome analysis criterion led to all requests for legal identity change to be refused in civil registers. Nevertheless, following a judgement pronounced by the ECHR in 1992 and vehement trans-identity demands, the French state was forced to relax the conditions allowing social change to be undertaken. Under the influence of European law and other international provisions, legislative action was opened to debate. The bioethical laws of 29 July 1994, 6 August 2004 and 7 July 2011 did not, however, provide a legal framework for transsexualism. The question remains a matter for jurisprudence through the court of cassation. This case-law approach--a vector of legal insecurity and inequality--places transgender people in a highly-precarious social situation.