By Anna Akopyan • Published: 09 May 2024 • 11:30
LGBTQ+ flag Credit: Anete Lusina, Pexels
On 1 July 2025, two new laws will come into force in Sweden, one relating to gender reassignment surgery and the other to the administrative procedure for changing legal gender.
From 2025, people in Sweden will be able to change their gender at the age of 16 if they have the consent of their parents, a doctor and the National Board of Health and Welfare. The law was passed in the Swedish parliament with 234 votes in favour and 94 against. This lowers the age for changing sex from 18 to 16.
“The vast majority of Swedes will not notice the change in the law, but for a number of transgender people the new law makes a big and important difference,” explained Johan Hultberg from the ruling conservative Moderate Party.
Despite being finalised, the proposal was discussed at length in parliament for six hours. The prime minister’s centre-right coalition was divided, with the Moderates and Liberals largely supporting the proposal and the Christian Democrats opposing it.
Although gender reassignment surgery for those under the age of 18 will still require parental and medical consent, a diagnosis of “gender dysphoria” will no longer be required for those aged 18 and over.
Gender dysphoria is the imbalance between a person’s biological sex and their identified gender, which has increased by 1,500 per cent in Sweden’s cases since 2008, according to the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. The authority stated that these cases occur most frequently in people between the ages of 13 and 17.
The new law will also simplify the process of changing legal gender, according to the chairman of the Swedish Federation for LGBTQ+ Peter Sidlund Ponkala said: “The process today is very long, it can take up to seven years to change your legal gender in Sweden.”
In contrast to the parliament´s decision, a recent public poll conducted by TV4 revealed that almost 60 per cent of the Swedish population are against the new law and only 22 per cent are in favour of it.
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Originally from Moscow, with Russian and Armenian origins, Anna has lived in Costa Blanca for over ten years. She is passionate about singing, acting and traveling.
I imagine there will be quite a few males that will want to change if things get bad between Sweden and Russia.
Tragic and insane legislation! Law makers know full well gender reassignment surgery is not reversible. How many of these sixteen year olds will later regret the decision to transition chemically and surgically once they are mentally, emotionally, mature??!! We are already seeing many of those who have transitioned coming forward to express deep regrets at being allowed to do what they did at such a young age before they could truly comprehend what it would mean for them later in life. We can surgically alter a body, add hormones and the DNA will always express itself as the biological being a person was when they were born. Possibly it would be best to find out what is causing young people to be confused or uncomfortable with their own gender and provide care for that!
I am old enough to remember when it was a huge fad or trend to call oneself gay, lesbian, or especially bi-sexual. That was really considered “SEXY”! Many of those same teens later went on to get married, have children and live happy fulfilling lives. Funny how trends and fads change through time. Sadly the trans trend is PERMANENT and there is no going back or changing one’s mind. Damage to the body is done. Truly a sad time in the history of humanity.
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