2024-04-17 02:20:58
The Swedish Parliament is debating on Wednesday a hotly contested bill lowering from 18 to 16 the minimum age for changing one’s sex in the civil registry, in a country that was the first to make this change legalized in 1972.
The text, which should simplify this procedure to change civil status, has weakened the conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, according to analysts, and the head of the government has recognized that he had to fight certain currents in his party.
“The procedure is very long, and it can take up to seven years in Sweden to change your gender in the civil registry,” Peter Sidlund Ponkala, president of the National Federation for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Rights, told AFP , transgender and queer ( RFSL ).
According to the proposal, the current legislation would be replaced by two new laws: one that regulates gender reassignment surgical procedures, and the other that regulates the gender reassignment procedure in the civil registry.
If Parliament accepts this proposal, it will be possible to change civil status from the age of 16 onwards. For those under the age of 18, the agreement of the parents, the doctor and the National Directorate of Health and Social Affairs will be required.
There will no longer be a need for a diagnosis of “gender dysphoria”, which states that a person suffers from a discrepancy between their biological sex and the gender they identify with.
Gender reassignment surgery will remain authorized from the age of 18 only but the consent of the National Directorate of Health will no longer be required.
The ovaries or testicles will only be allowed to be removed from the age of 23, as is the case today.
– Gender dysphoria on the rise –
A large number of European countries have already adopted laws facilitating gender transition in civil status.
In warning, Sweden decided in 2022 to limit access to hormonal gender reassignment treatments for minors, and severely restricted the use of breast removal among adolescent girls.
The Nordic country has seen a sharp increase in cases of gender dysphoria, a trend that is particularly visible among 13-17-year-old children born female, with an increase of 1,500% since 2008, according to the Directorate of Health.
In a Swedish society that has long been open to gender reassignment, political parties are divided over this new bill and academics, health professionals and commentators fall into both camps.
According to a poll published this week, almost 60% of Swedes are against the proposal, while only 22% support it.
Criticism arose about the presence of biological males in prisons or women’s locker rooms. Others worry that this simplification of procedures will encourage misguided young people to go down the path of surgical transplants.
Politicians are looking for further studies, due to the lack of explanation for this rise in cases of gender dysphoria.
– Deep divisions –
“There is a clear correlation with different types of psychiatric disorders or diagnoses, such as autism,” Annika Strandhäll, leader of the women’s wing of the Social Democrats (S-kvinnor), told Swedish Press Agency TT.
“We want to pause (the age change) and wait for further research to explain this increase” in cases of gender dysphoria.
The RSFL president believes it is important to simplify the law for “vulnerable” transgender people.
“They have to face many risks (…) we see that the political climate has hardened,” he says.
The Swedish Prime Minister considered the proposed law “fair and responsible”.
His coalition is divided, however, on this text, with the Moderates and Liberals supporting him and the Christian Democrats and the Democrats in Sweden, a far-right party that supports the executive, against him.
Mr Kristersson sought support from the left-wing opposition to pass the proposal.
He also admitted that he would like to keep the age limit at 18 but that he had to give in internally to those who wanted to lower it, even though they were in the minority.
If this proposal is voted on, it will come into force on 1 July 2025.
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