Swedish Christian Democrats block trans bill
A general view shows members of the parliament in Sweden. Photo AFP, Jonathan Nackstrand
Northern Europe
The Swedish coalition has deleted the bill to simplify legal gender change. There is too much disagreement between the governing parties. Now, the Moderates and the Liberals will seek another way to turn the proposal into legislation.
At the beginning of this year, the Swedish government announced a bill that would simplify the process of changing one's gender. It was to be presented in February, but without explanation, the government said that it would be postponed, Dagen writes.
The Swedish government coalition constists of the Moderates, Liberal Party and the Christian Democratic Party and started its mandate in October 2022.
The goal of a new transgender proposal is to make the process of legal gender change easier and lower the age limit from 18 to 16 years.
Now, it turns out that the disagreement among the coalition partners is the cause of the struggles with the transgender bill. Dagen investigated the opinion of the Christian Democratic fraction and discovered that there are "clear protests within the Christian Democratic Riksdag group. Even though no one wanted to speak out openly on the issue, the Christian newspaper writes that "it is clear that people within the party are not satisfied with the ongoing process."
However, what makes the process more complicated is that the responsible Minister of Education, Acko Ankarberg Johansson, also belongs to the Christian Democratic Party. At the time, the Minister did not want to comment on the matter. His press department only said that "a preparation is in the making."
Tabled
However, now it is clear that the transgender bill will not be tabled at all. It is not included in the government's list of planned bills for the autumn, Dagen writes. Minister Acko Ankarberg Johannson only states in a written comment that this is because "the governing parties have different approaches to this, and they agree that each party has the opportunity to act based on its own positions in the Riksdag."
Christian Democrat Christian Carlsson says to Dagen that the Christian Democratic Party has been unable to find a way out with the Moderates and the Liberal Party regarding the issue of gender change. "We think that adults who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria should still be able to change their legal gender, but the rule must be that the legal gender matches the biological one", he says. Therefore, the party says no "to the idea that you should be able to change your legal gender even if you have not been diagnosed with gender dysphoria."
Concerning the lowering of the age limit for legal gender change, Carlsson says that experts are divided on the issue. Therefore, the party wants to take the cautious side and opposes the lowering of the age limit.
Modernised
However, the Moderates and the Liberal Party are not giving up their transgender proposal. Instead, they will proceed without the Christian Democrats and attempt to get their way through the Riksdag. "The current law is from the 1970s and needs to be modernised", says Lina Nordquist from the Liberal Party. "It is time to take the next step."
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