This Year's Girl
Grateful grapefruit
This is a big thing in Sweden right now, and I thought I'd fill you in on it if you haven't heard about it. It's really horrible and upsetting!
(I'll be using the term "sex correction", as many people prefer it to sex change; they feel like they aren't changning the sex they have surgergy to be, they are just correcting it as they have always felt like they were born in the wrong body. I'm not sure if this is the right term in english though, there might be a different word for it 🙂)
So, this is basically what's been going on:
When a person chooses to do a sex correction it is not all that choose to change their sexual organs, which means that they still retain their fertility. Others choose to change the sexual organs, but want to freeze eggs or sperm to still be able to become parents.
One step when it comes to having a sex correction is to change your social security number (it's called changing your "legal gender". I don't know how it is in other countries, but in sweden the last 2 numbers says if you're a boy or a girl) to one that denotes the sex you've been corrected to. It is an important step for many in order to be treated like the sex they are when they have contact with stuff like authorities that might need to have their social security number. Being constantly referred to as "she" when you are a "he" can be very offensive.
However, in order to obtain a new social security number there's a law in sweden that says that you ,among other things, have to get sterlized and that any frozen egg / sperm you might have are destroyed. There are many transgender people who do not want this of course, they want the opportunity to become parents. The current law prohibit this and are basically leaving transgender people with 2 choices. 1: change social security number, avoid being treated as a girl when you're a boy your whole life, but you can never have children or 2. not to change your social security numbers, have the chance to become a parent, but risk being subjected to degrading treatment by not being treated as the sex you are. Given these options many people choose the 1 option despite that they really don't want to. They are basically being forced to get sterilized.
Despite a massive push for repealing the law, including support from 90% of Swedish MPs, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has stayed silent on the issue: allowing one small conservative party - Kristdemokraterna - to block the change. The national board in sweden even strongly recommend that the law is changed (and says it should've been a long time ago!).
Forced sterilization has a long and frightening history in Sweden. Beginning with programs in the 1930s that tried to eliminate certain "undesirable" traits in society by forcing individuals to be sterilized, Sweden has long grappled with the painful history of stripping from citizens what we now consider to be a basic human right. Even Prime Minister Reinfeldt has publicly called previous sterilization laws a "dark chapter in Swedish history".
Now he has a chance to close that chapter for good. A reform of the law is ready to be presented directly to the Parliament - where 90% of MPs are in favor of banning forced sterilization - but without a push from the Prime Minister, the Kristdemokraterna party will use its seat in the government to block the change. So far nothing has happened.
If you like me think that this is wrong and want to do something about it you can sign this petition and ask Prime Minister Reinfeldt to take a stand for human rights. RFSL, the Swedish LGBT Federation, will deliver the signatures directly to the Prime Minister's office. We need a massive show of support across Sweden and Europe that finally convinces PM Reinfeldt to speak out and break the deadlock.
Ps. the title was supposed to say "persons", not "person", so if a mod could change this I'd be grateful. 🙂
(I'll be using the term "sex correction", as many people prefer it to sex change; they feel like they aren't changning the sex they have surgergy to be, they are just correcting it as they have always felt like they were born in the wrong body. I'm not sure if this is the right term in english though, there might be a different word for it 🙂)
So, this is basically what's been going on:
When a person chooses to do a sex correction it is not all that choose to change their sexual organs, which means that they still retain their fertility. Others choose to change the sexual organs, but want to freeze eggs or sperm to still be able to become parents.
One step when it comes to having a sex correction is to change your social security number (it's called changing your "legal gender". I don't know how it is in other countries, but in sweden the last 2 numbers says if you're a boy or a girl) to one that denotes the sex you've been corrected to. It is an important step for many in order to be treated like the sex they are when they have contact with stuff like authorities that might need to have their social security number. Being constantly referred to as "she" when you are a "he" can be very offensive.
However, in order to obtain a new social security number there's a law in sweden that says that you ,among other things, have to get sterlized and that any frozen egg / sperm you might have are destroyed. There are many transgender people who do not want this of course, they want the opportunity to become parents. The current law prohibit this and are basically leaving transgender people with 2 choices. 1: change social security number, avoid being treated as a girl when you're a boy your whole life, but you can never have children or 2. not to change your social security numbers, have the chance to become a parent, but risk being subjected to degrading treatment by not being treated as the sex you are. Given these options many people choose the 1 option despite that they really don't want to. They are basically being forced to get sterilized.
Despite a massive push for repealing the law, including support from 90% of Swedish MPs, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has stayed silent on the issue: allowing one small conservative party - Kristdemokraterna - to block the change. The national board in sweden even strongly recommend that the law is changed (and says it should've been a long time ago!).
Forced sterilization has a long and frightening history in Sweden. Beginning with programs in the 1930s that tried to eliminate certain "undesirable" traits in society by forcing individuals to be sterilized, Sweden has long grappled with the painful history of stripping from citizens what we now consider to be a basic human right. Even Prime Minister Reinfeldt has publicly called previous sterilization laws a "dark chapter in Swedish history".
Now he has a chance to close that chapter for good. A reform of the law is ready to be presented directly to the Parliament - where 90% of MPs are in favor of banning forced sterilization - but without a push from the Prime Minister, the Kristdemokraterna party will use its seat in the government to block the change. So far nothing has happened.
If you like me think that this is wrong and want to do something about it you can sign this petition and ask Prime Minister Reinfeldt to take a stand for human rights. RFSL, the Swedish LGBT Federation, will deliver the signatures directly to the Prime Minister's office. We need a massive show of support across Sweden and Europe that finally convinces PM Reinfeldt to speak out and break the deadlock.
Ps. the title was supposed to say "persons", not "person", so if a mod could change this I'd be grateful. 🙂
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