The law allows transgender citizens to change their gender on their birth certificates and national ID cards without any required psychological or physical diagnoses — the first of its kind in the world. In addition, the law guarantees free access to gender-affirming procedures, such as hormonal treatments or surgeries, as part of public and private healthcare plans. In 2015, the World Health Organization referred to Argentina’s Gender Identity Law as a key example of supportive legislation for transgender communities around the world. Fundación Huésped, a nonprofit advocacy organization, estimates that in the two years after the Gender Identity Law was approved, physical abuse and sexual violence by the police to transgender communities decreased by 10%. In addition, while more than half of the transgender community in Argentina avoided going to health centers before the law was passed, this number decreased to only 5.3% by 2014, the foundation claims . "Thanks to the Gender Identity Law, we are now able to report cases of violence against us, we are able to defend ourselves, even though others might find it hard to believe that those are rights of the transgender communities that they will now have to respect," Mercado told Refinery29.