Finland adopts new forward-thinking trans rights laws on gender recognition

Finland has passed a new, progressive rights law that makes it significantly easier for transgender people to change their legal gender.

Prime Minister Sanne Marian had said the law was a priority for her government, and on Wednesday it was passed by a large majority in parliament by 113 votes to 69. There were 17 MPs absent from the vote, but no abstentions.

Politicians from Marin’s five-party coalition government voted overwhelmingly in favor of the new legislation, although 13 MPs from the Center Party voted against. The far-right Finnish party and the religious Christian Democrats were also against.

The new laws mean that transgender people aged 18 and older can legally change their sex by self-declaration, and no longer have to go through a strenuous medical and psychiatric approval process.

Amendments also remove a provision that required transgender people to provide a medical certificate proving they were infertile or sterilized before the government would recognize their gender identity.

This part of the existing law was designed to prevent transgender people from having children, and has been widely condemned by human rights organizations for years.

“We expected the bill to pass, but in recent weeks there has been an incredibly vigorous campaign against the bill, particularly anti-gender rhetoric,” he said. Kertu Tarjamosecretary general of SetaFinland’s oldest and most respected LGBTQI+ rights organization.

Some of the arguments used by opponents of the new legislation to stop it are well-known ‘wedge issues’ that have been used in other countries, such as Scotland.

“They said this will open the gates for cis men to harass women in changing rooms. They argued about prisons and tried to take the UK as an example,” Tarjamo told Euronews.

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

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

Finland’s new trans rights law does not affect existing legislation in the Nordic nation that deals with medically affirmative treatment for transgender people — something trans rights activists say was widely misunderstood, even by the politicians who voted on the proposals.

“Opponents tried to use this, trying to confuse new laws about legal sex with the concept of sex reassignment treatment,” said Kerttu Tarjamo. “But there are medical guidelines that regulate that, not this legislation.”

Spain last month passed legislation allowing for gender reassignment by self-declaration, while the UK government vetoed a similar bill passed by lawmakers in Scotland in December.