Focus on Transgender People

I have come here on behalf of the LGBT working group of European Left to tell you about the situation in Finland concerning the rights of sexual minorities.

A big step in these matters was taken last December when the Finnish parliament adopted a citizen’s initiative on marriage equality. This change, however, will only take effect in March 2017. The reason has been told to be that the change in the marriage law will force wide-ranging changes in other legislation.

As the marriage law changes, it will most likely include the right to joint-adoption for same-sex partners which is not possible at the moment. It is possible however for same-sex partners to adopt their partner’s kids and also for female couples to receive fertility treatment – yet the one not receiving it will still have to adopt the child to become a legal guardian.

The new Equality Act and Non-Discrimination Act came into force this year. It now prohibits also discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression.

Transgender people still have to go through automatic divorce and forced sterilizations to obtain civil-status change. There will be no more forced divorce when the law of gender-neutral marriage comes to force. The main issue in Finland at the moment concerning sexual minorities is getting rid of the forced sterilization of transgender people.

There’s some positive news on this front; at the start of May an expert group working for the Ministry for Social Affairs and Health made a statement on legal gender recognition. The group made a suggestion that the infertility requirement and converting one’s marriage to registered partnership should be removed. They also suggested basing legal gender recognition on self-determination.

Regarding intersex rights, the Ministry of Justice has promised to start working on stopping the non-medically based surgeries that intersex children have been exposed to, yet nothing has been done by now.

The Communist Party of Finland has made an official statement to show our support to transgender people by changing the law so that forced sterilization will be put to an end together with forced divorce. We demand that legal gender recognition will be based on self-determination. In this statement we have also showed our support for recognizing the third sex.

I can end this on a happy note as the most recent news come from less than two weeks ago, when the parliament formed a group to support the rights of sexual minorities. Their task will be to share all current information about issues that affect the health and well-being of sexual minorities and to do their best in making the changes needed.

CPF