Human rights group slams sex change laws
Published: 15 Jan 12 12:48 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/38514/20120115/
Sweden's forced sterilization for sex change candidates continues to spark debate, as organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has written a letter to prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, urging him to reconsider the law.
- Human rights group releases activists' alarm (7 Apr 13)
- 'Idiot politicans can't tell me I need surgery to be a man' (4 Apr 13)
- 'Third-sex' fear cited to snip transgender Swedes (3 Apr 13)
According to legislation passed in 1972, to undergo a sex change operation a person must be over 18-years-old, a Swedish citizen, be sterilized and unmarried.
In HRW's letter to Reinfeldt, Boris Dittrich, advocacy director of HRW's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender program, wrote of the organization's concerns that while changing the law to exclude the rules on married status and citizenship, the Swedish government still hasn't removed the compulsory sterilization condition.
"The Swedish law causes anguish for transgender people who choose not to have the required surgery, involving an invasive medical procedure, for various reasons such as out of a wish to one day become parents," wrote Dittrich, citing frequent public humiliation and vulnerability to discrimination as risks for those whose identification documents do not match their gender.
HRW describes Sweden's current legislation as outdated.
"The Swedish transgender law stems from 1972 and is out of step with current international best practice and understandings of Swedish obligations under international human rights law."
All Riksdag parties bar the Christian Democrats support a rewritten sex change law.
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Anyone who reads it themselves can see great biased by the journalist of this article.
What these political lobby people argue is that people should be allowed to change their sex to a new sex. Fair enough, but then they should argue THAT case, instead of this illogical argument. Furthermore, they should show that changing your sex to this third sex will decrease suicide or some other tangible benefit to the gruop undergoing this medical treatment. But methinks these politicals in the HBTQ lobby dont care at all about people with the transgender condition. They just out looking to increase their own power and take the opportunity to throw around the "forced sterilization" word since it makes neat headlines.
Transgender is a very wide description of a person, ranging from people wanting to be fully the opposite sex they were born to people just feeling like it and dressing the part but dont wanna go through surgery and everything in between, a transgender isn't neccessary only a person that wants to be either full female or male. So infact they're arguing for what your saying they should argue for...
Why should the state decide if I want to get tits I also have to get sterilized? There's no real logic why it is like that except an outdated law that dosen't really fit into the current societys view on HBTQ people.
Well, the other side of the spectrum is, why let yourself be defined by the state? If the state considered me a woman i would simply conclude the state is idiotic and go my merry way?
Anyway, you really are arguing that people should be allowed to change their gender to a third sex? Fine, but if you want taxdollars to do it you have to show some tangible medical benefit of such. Like suicidestatistics or somesuch.