2024-04-18 00:45:17
Sweden’s parliament passed a law today to lower the age for legal gender reassignment from 18 to 16, the Associated Press reported.
Young people under 18 will still need the approval of a guardian, doctor and the National Health and Social Care Board.
However, a diagnosis of “gender dysphoria,” defined by medical professionals as a discrepancy between a person’s biological sex and gender self-identification, will no longer be required.
234 MPs voted in support of the law, 94 voted “against” and 21 were absent.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s centre-right coalition is split on the issue, with the Moderate Coalition Party and the Liberals largely backing the law, while the Christian Democrats oppose it. The far-right populist party Sweden Democrats, which supports the government in parliament but is not part of it, also opposed it.
Among other countries, similar legislation already exists in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Spain, writes BTA. In the UK, in 2022 the Scottish Parliament passed a bill to allow people aged 16 or over to change the gender on identity documents. The British government vetoed it, a decision that Scotland’s highest city court upheld in December.