The Swedish Parliament on Wednesday passed a highly controversial law that will make it easier for people to change their legal gender and lower the age for doing so from 18 to 16, despite strong criticism from parts of the government coalition, Swedish media report. The law also lowers the threshold for sex change surgery by removing some requirements.
The move comes despite many Christian Democrat and Sweden Democrat MPs expressing concern that more research on gender dysphoria should be carried out before such a law is approved, and pointing out that other mental health problems are common in people requesting to change genders—something verified by British pediatrician Hillary Cass in a recent report.
A Swedish overview of existing studies from 2019, “found that several studies “describe an increased presence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other psychiatric comorbidity in children and young people with gender dysphoria.”
Sweden was the first country to make gender transition legal in 1972, but this process could take many years and required careful examination and a doctor’s diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
The country’s new law, which will come into force in July 2025, will simplify this process. Under it, a short consultation with a doctor or psychologist and approval by the National Board of Health and Welfare will be enough to change legal gender, with no formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria needing to be made.
While persons having reached the age of 16 will be able to legally change their gender, persons under 18 will need the approval of both their parent or guardian and a doctor, as well as the National Board of Health and Welfare.
The new law will also distinguish between the legal gender transition process and that for gender surgery, which will still require a longer assessment period and will only be allowed from the age of 18 (or 23 for removal of primary sexual organs).
Following a change of ‘legal gender’, both socially and legally, the step to surgery will be considerably easier to take, having the potential of bringing with it disastrous and irreversible consequences for the individual.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson claimed the proposal was “balanced and responsible,” but Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats, criticized the adoption of the law, describing it as “deplorable” and lacking popular support.
As reported by Reuters, a recent poll by the Swedish TV network TV4 showed that 59% of Swedes think it is a bad or very bad proposal, while 22% think it is a good one.
Fellow Sweden Democrat Carita Boulwen went as far as calling the proposal “reprehensible,” as it risked “having unforeseen and serious consequences not just for the individual, but for society as a whole.”
Within the ruling Moderates, the issue is “one of the biggest sources of internal strife in recent years,” a source told Euractiv in early April.
Although Sweden led the way in legalizing gender reassignment, its Board of Health and Welfare recently raised alarm over gender dysphoria becoming prevalent in the country.
In 2022, after a 1,500% increase in gender-transition requests, Sweden disallowed minor hormone therapy, barring in rare cases, and the Board recommended that mastectomies for girls who wanted to become boys should be performed only in a research setting.
To pass the bill (which was approved with 234 votes to 94), the center-right Moderates and the Liberals worked with the center-left opposition, circumventing government coalition partners the Christian Democrats and the nationalist Sweden Democrats, who opposed the measure.