Finland Passes New Laws On Gender Recognition

Finland has passed a new rights law which makes it substantially easier for trans people to change their legal gender.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin said the law was a priority for her government and on Wednesday it was passed by a large majority in parliament with 113 votes for, 69 against. There were 17 MPs not present for the vote, but no abstentions.

Politicians from Marin's five-party coalition government voted overwhelmingly in favor of the legislation, although 13 Centre Party MPs voted against. The far-right Finns Party and religious Christian Democrats opposed it too.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Now, trans people aged 18 and older can legally change their gender by a process of self-declaration, and no longer have to go through an onerous medical and psychiatric approval process first.

The changes to the law also abolish a provision that required trans people to provide a medical certificate proving they were infertile or sterilized before the government would recognize their gender identity. This was intended to keep trans individuals from having children and had been widely condemned by human rights groups for many years.

“We were expecting the bill to pass, but in the last few weeks there has been an incredibly strong campaign against the law, especially anti-gender type of rhetoric,” said Kerttu Tarjamo, secretary general of Seta, Finland's oldest and most respected LGBTQ+ rights organization.

“They said this will open the gates for cis-gendered men to harass women in changing rooms, they had arguments about prisons and tried to use the UK as an example,” Tarjamo told Euronews.

One of the most controversial aspects of the legislation was whether to extend new trans rights provisions to 16 and 17-year-olds, who are considered minors in Finnish law.

“At the last minute this was something that was not in the bill, and this is something which we are disappointed about, but we know there was strong support for more trans reform,” Tarjamo explained.

The new Finnish trans rights law has no impact on existing legislation which deals with medical treatment for trans people – something trans rights activists say was widely misunderstood even by the politicians who were voting on the proposals.

“Opponents tried to use this, tried to mix up new laws about legal gender with the concept of gender [confirmation] treatment,” said Kerttu Tarjamo. “But there are medical guidelines that regulate that, not this legislation.”

Read related myGwork articles here:

Finland To Consider Conversion Therapy Ban After Overwhelming Public Demand

Finland Confirms First Same-Sex Adoptions

Gay rights activists march in protest ahead of the Trump/Putin summit in Finland

Keep up to date with the latest myGnews

LGBTQ+ professionals, LGBTQ+ Graduates, LGBTQ+ professional network, LGBTQ+ professional events, LGBTQ+ networking events, LGBTQ+ Recruitment, LGBTQ+ Friendly organizations, LGBTQ+ Friendly companies, LGBTQ+ jobs