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Being trans, and being of Swedish ancestry — as well as having a sibling who actually lives in Sweden — the trans civil rights issue that Love Georg Elfvelin has highlighted in his video is of much interest to me.
“Hi, my name is Love, I’m from Sweden and I’m trans. That means I’m born in a female body but my heart says I’m a man. I’m speaking out today because the Swedish government is forcing thousands of people like me to make an impossible choice.
“If I need to change the gender on my identity card to reflect my true self, just a small change from an “F” to an “M”, my country will force me to be sterilized. I can either be represented correctly or have my basic human rights violated. That is not a fair choice. I’m at a protest today in front of the Parliament to ask for the law to be changed and this barbaric practice to end.
“Your support is making a difference, please join us by signing the petition and telling your friends to do the same. Thank you!”
According to Pink Paper‘s Anger As Sweden Continues To Force Sterilization Of Trans People (emphasis added):
Members of the Swedish government have announced they will not change the current law requesting transgender people to undergo sterilisation.
A majority of the Swedish Parliament is for an abolishment of the law but a small conservative party is putting a halt to the change.
Human Rights Watch has called it a crime against humanity, members of the European Parliament have urged the Swedish Parliament to change the law and All Out organisation has launched a campaign attempting to change Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s mind.
The 1972 law being kept in force states that a person wanting their gender reconsidered by the state has to be over 18 years old, unmarried and sterilised.
Transgender persons are also banned from storing sperm or eggs in a sperm/egg bank for future use…
This shouldn’t be allowed to stand. From the All Out (Equality Everywhere!) petition page:
If you are a transgender person in Sweden today looking to legally change your gender, in the 21st century you are still forced to undergo surgery that will render you permanently infertile and forever unable to have children. This barbaric practice of forced sterilizations has to stop!
The majority of the Swedish parliament is in favor of modifying this law – but up until now Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has let a small conservative party block this long awaited reform.
Let’s make sure the Prime Minister knows that the majority of Sweden, and Europe – wants to see Sweden on the right side of history – by eliminating this archaic practice.
Please take one minute to sign this urgent letter to the Prime Minister of Sweden asking him to stop playing politics with the fundamental human rights of Swedish citizens. Our friends at RFSL, the Swedish LGBT Federation, will deliver your signatures directly to the Prime Minister’s office.
Please consider signing the petition for our trans siblings in Sweden.
6 Comments
I have to admit I was surprised to read that Sweden has such a law on the books. It’s way beyond archaic — the nicest word that comes to mind is “barbaric.”
I was struck more by the line “forced to undergo surgery.” Is this something seperate from GRS? Doesn’t GRS ultimately render the patient sterile anyway? It seems like what the law actually requires is that the person in question undergo GRS before they can be recoginzed as the new gender by the state.
There are apparently more egregious parts of the law such as denying GRS patiets the ability to freeze sperm/eggs for invitro purposes in the future.
Here is an article written in 1977.
Read the last page where it praises the 1972 Swedish law. Note the specifics. Then ask if this is barbaric or is it a sincere attempt to have a functional state funded procedure to help transsexuals.
If we in the United States had national health care and national birth certificates I would expect similar requirements except maybe the bit about storing eggs or sperm might reflect more modern tolerance.
Are we in this country trying to police world morality? We screamed WMD and sent the military into Iraq. Should we scream Human Rights and send the military into Sweden? We still have 3 states where a birth certificate can not be changed under any circumstances. Maybe Sweden should have preached to all our states back in 1972.
And lest I forget, Sweden recognizes gay marriage on a fully equal basis with opposite sex marriage. Bigot is a sort of disparaging term but perhaps it is appropriate when we in this country criticize Swedish law.
It’s the same in Germany: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_aspects_of_transsexualism#Criticism_of_the_.22Transsexuellengesetz.22
If I want an “F” on my Oklahoma birth certificate I will need to undergo life threatening non-reversible sterilizing surgery (GRS).
Sound pretty barbaric to me.
:/
The good news is that recently the German Constitutional Court has found that obligatory sterility (and obligatory GRS) are unconstitutional, these parts of the law aren’t valid since January 11, 2011.
Decision (in German).