On 6 November 2015, a bill to allow transgender people to legally change their gender without the need for sex reassignment surgery and forced sterilisation was approved by the French Senate. On 24 May 2016, the National Assembly approved the bill. MP Pascale Crozon, who introduced the bill, reminded MPs before the vote about the long, uncertain and humiliating procedures by which transgender people must go through to change their gender on vital records. Due to differing texts, a joint session was established. On 12 July 2016, the National Assembly approved a modified version of the bill which maintained the provisions outlawing psychiatrist certificates and proofs of sex reassignment surgery, while also dropping the original bill's provision of allowing self-certification of gender. On 28 September, the French Senate discussed the bill. The National Assembly then met on 12 October in a plenary session to approve the bill once more and rejected amendments proposed by the Senate which would have required proof of medical treatment. On 17 November, the Constitutional Council ruled that the bill is constitutional. It was signed by the President on 18 November 2016, published in the "Journal Officiel" the next day, and took effect on 1 January 2017. While no longer requiring proof of surgery or medical interventions, transgender people need to go before a court in order to have their gender marker changed.