Time to act

The government has promised to introduce a new gender recognition act before the end of the term of office. The act would make it easier to change legal gender, which would make life easier for many trans people. Now it’s clear that the chance that the government will keep its promise to the LGBTQI movement is minimal as it has announced that the act won’t be proposed in time for it to be processed by parliament this year.

The government states that it’s due to the Corona epidemic that order of priority has changed. RFSL and RFSL Ungdom are critical of the governments stalling of the issue. A new gender recognition act is RFSL and RFSL Ungdom’s most important trans political issue since the abolishment of forced sterilisation.

– The government has promised that human rights wouldn’t suffer because of the pandemic. We want to urge the government to reprioritise and quickly get a new law in place. Every day with the old legislation is a violation against trans people’s self-determination and rights, says Deidre Palacios, president of RFSL.

The proposal of a new gender recognition act has been reviewed on a number of occasions since 2014, and a legislative proposal was written as early as 2018. A majority of the parties in parliament agree that the law is outdated, that it affects trans people’s health negatively, and that they would vote for a proposal that allows people to decide their own legal gender. To RFSL’s knowledge, only the Sweden Democrats would currently vote against such a proposal.

– We can’t wait for a new law any longer. Trans people shouldn’t have to wait for years to get a passport with their right gender and it must also be possible for minors to change legal gender, says Jêran Rostam, president of RFSL Ungdom.

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Why do we need a new gender recognition act?

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