The new law concerns the gender visible in the personal identity number and coordination number – where the second to last digit shows the legal gender. An even digit is a woman and an odd digit is a man.
Compared to the previous law, the age limit for changing is lowered from 18 years to 16 years, with the guardian's approval. It also does not require a gender dysphoria diagnosis as before, but only a healthcare contact.
In April last year, the law was passed, but until the very end, there was a heated debate and two members of parliament from S and M broke the party line by voting against the proposal.
First proposal 2018
The law is based on a proposal from the previous S government, which was preceded by another scrapped proposal from 2018. The reduction was then proposed to 12 years, which was heavily criticized and changed to today's 16 years.
Since then, criticism has been heard from voices within S as well as from KD and SD, but also internal criticism within M. The main criticism has been that the change can be made as a minor, but also that it does not require a gender dysphoria diagnosis. Critics have also pointed out that gender dysphoria diagnoses have increased in recent years and that it is not entirely clear why.
Advocates such as RFSL and RFSL Ungdom have, however, described the law as a partial victory. They have instead turned against the fact that one still needs to seek healthcare contact to change the legal gender, and that the individual's self-identification is not fully decisive. In the rest of the Nordic countries, only an application to the relevant authority is required.
Sterilization was required
To pass the law, M and L chose an unusual maneuver after the government's negotiations broke down. The parties instead sought support from the opposition. The issue was also never part of the Tidö agreement, so SD, which believes that the law should be repealed, was not part of the negotiations.
The old law was introduced in the 70s and until 2013, it was required that people be sterilized to change their legal gender. Since then, over 500 people have received 225,000 kronor in compensation from the state. The law focused on the fact that people who wanted to change their legal gender should also undergo gender-affirming hormone treatment and surgery.
New is also that the old law is divided into two laws that become independent of each other. The other law concerns the surgical process, where the biggest change is that it no longer requires the approval of the Socialstyrelsen.
Gender dysphoria is a diagnosis where the gender identity does not match the sex registered at birth, and it means suffering for the person. The gender one feels like is usually called gender identity, and it is only the individual who can assess it themselves and what it means for oneself. People with gender dysphoria can receive gender-affirming treatment where the body is adapted as far as possible to the gender identity. Source: 1177
