If you had to guess which country requires mandatory sterilization for transgender people, would you have guessed Denmark?
Yes. That’s right. Denmark. In 2014. Still requiring sterilization. The first country in the world to offer recognition to same-sex partners (in 1989!) is only just now overturning an insane abuse of human rights.
But not for much longer: Parliament just voted to end the requirement. Going forward, no medical procedures are necessary; you’ll be allowed to “officially” change your gender after a six-month period simply by declaring your intention to do so.
Other European countries have waited until recently to eliminate similarly horrifying requirements. Denmark and Sweden only overturned their forced-sterilization laws in late 2013.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Incredibly, France, Portugal and Italy are among the countries with sterilization laws still on the books. The World Health Organization condemned the requirements last week, so hopefully we’ll see the end of them soon.
Speaking of Denmark, here is a photo gallery of an all-nude Crossfit gym in Aarhus. Just because.
Joshua
It is nice to see my country try to be leading the race in something again. Though I do wonder if it is not too easy to change your gender in Denmark now. You only have to state you intentions and six month later validate your intention, and tadaaa you have changed gender legally.
aliengod
This isn’t progress. It’s insanity. Even though I’m biologically a man, I can start calling myself a woman and it’s legally recognized? I feel like I’m living in the Twilight Zone.
sweetbrandigirl2004
@alien god: I agree their use of the term forced serialization is misleading and no doubt was chosen to do just that. Sterilization happens by default when ones undergoes GRS gender reassignment surgery. To lead someone into believing that the Government is harming you in some way is just wrong and just another tactic used by the TRANS MAFIA to force their delusion upon the world. If you can’t or won’t follow the SOC standards of Care then you shouldn’t be allowed to change your documents IMO !
Thedrdonna
@Brandi: the WPATH SoC doesn’t actually give any guidance regarding when or under what circumstances ID documents should be changed, but the WPATH has stated:
“No person should have to undergo surgery or accept sterilization as a condition of identity recognition. If a sex marker is required on an identity document, that marker could recognize the person’s lived gender, regardless of reproductive capacity. The WPATH Board of Directors urges governments and other authoritative bodies to move to eliminate requirements for identity recognition that require surgical procedures.”
I think if you’re going to advocate that people shouldn’t be able to change their documents without surgery, you should be prepared to address the fact that many trans folks can’t afford surgery, and some are medically incapable of such a major surgery. As it is, it sounds like the attitude towards those people is “tough sh*t”.
vive
@Joshua, how is that too easy? Arguably it is still too difficult. Why should there be a 6 month waiting period before recognition of one’s lived gender can take place?
Mezaien
If you knew the Danish, people you would have know they are still in the “Hearing” century NO surprise Europe hates them ME TO.
Streamciter
Not your business or concern if someone wants to change their gender on id documents, so no it isn’t “too easy.”
inbama
When the RadFems call Gender Reassignment Surgery “sterilization,” they’re bigots.
But now we turn around and accuse nations that permit transsexuals to legally change their sex of “forced sterilization.”
No doubt GLAAD will issue new rules telling us all the correct way to speak of this latest TransFenimist craziness.
corvaspikenard
@inbama: When the RadFems call Gender Reassignment Surgery “sterilization,” they’re bigots.
There are plenty of reasons to call TERFs bigots, but that’s not one of them.
I’ve always found it totally mystifying as to why TERFs are so anti-penis and think all PIV is rape, but they mock trans women for removing their penises. You’d think they would be elated about one less penis in the world! But I guess very little of what they do or say makes logical sense 🙂
aliengod
@inbama: Absolutely! I couldn’t agree more.
GeriHew
A big problem here is stereotyping. Trans people are a very diverse group of individuals. Therefore applications to change legal sex should be considered very carefully on a case by case basis by qualified people who have an in depth knowledge of transgender and transsexual issues. It should not be made too difficult or virtually impossible for an individual to change sex, but neither should it be made too easy.
It is also time to start legally recognizing the existence of more than two genders. It should not be necessary to state you are either male or female on your passport if you have a gender-queer, bigendered, intersex identity etc (which may or may not be based on your biology as well as your psychology).
M___Townsend
@sweetbrandigirl2004: @ Brandi: the sterilization to which the article refers to is a remnant from the days of eugenics, which [from Wikipedia] is a darwinian social philosophy that seeks to improve human traits through the increased reproduction of individuals with desirable traits and decrease / eliminate reproduction of those with undesirable traits. We commonly think about eugenics as practiced by the Nazis, but many other countries (Denmark, Sweden, the United States, Belgium, Canada, China, Japan to name some) all had programs that in some way intervened with individuals’ right to reproductive self-determination. Most of the focus of these inhumane policies have been on the poor, the mentally ill, the deaf and the developmentally disabled. Because transsexualism has historically been seen as a mental illness, many gender programs required transfolk to prove that they hadn’t stored any gametes for future use.
I’ve never heard about the Trans Mafia (who are they?) but depriving individuals of having children just because they don’t fit a social ideal is barbaric, and definitely constitutes a harm by a government to an individaul. Thank goodness this practice will become a footnote in history.
inbama
@M___Townsend:
Twisting the granting of the right to transsexuals to legally change their sex into something akin to Nazi eugenics is not only slandering a nation trying its best to accommodate gender variants but an insult to the actual victims of the Holocaust.
If this is really what’s being touted, it exposes the Transfeminist movement as a bottomless pit of narcissism and dishonesty.
This slander needs to be strongly denounced by every reputable LGBT organization.
AzLights
@inbama: I think it also needs to be pointed out that gender reassignment surgery would of necessity involve sterilization. But now with one of the reasons for making gender reassignment easier for those who cannot, for medical reasons, use hormones or surgery (and I do know transpeople in that situation), or who cannot afford surgery, there is no reason for the surgery requirement.
Agree with you on the references to the Holocaust. References to the Shoah in this instance are insulting to those who suffered under the Nazis as well as to those who were their loved ones. Let’s save comparisons for situations that merit them.
inbama
@AzLights:
While I agree with the result of safe transitioning and legal status, the “by any means necessary” tactics of transfeminists to achieve this seriously damages the LGBT movement.
You cannot claim to have any integrity whatsoever when you are calling a surgery a “crime against humanity” while at the same time suing to make the state pay for it as a “medical necessity.”