Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin holds a rainbow flag as she takes part in the 2022 Helsinki Pride march
(Picture: LEHTIKUVA/AFP via Getty Images)Finland’s parliament has passed a new gender recognition law which will abolish the requirement for trans people to prove they are infertile.
The law - passed on Thursday by 113 votes to 69 - will also remove the requirement for trans people to be sterilised and obtain a psychiatric diagnosis to acquire legal gender recognition.
Under Finland’s current law, a trans person has to provide proof of infertility before they are granted legal gender recognition.
That part of the existing law was intended to keep transgender individuals from having children.
But the new bill will allow transgender individuals who are 18 or older in Finland to legally change their genders by self-declaration alone.
To prevent misuse of the revised law, such requests only can be made once a year.
Matti Pihlajamaa, Amnesty International Finland’s LGBTI rights advisor, said: “By passing this act, Finland has taken a major step towards protecting trans people’s rights and improving their lives and right to self-determination.”
Prime Minister Sanna Marin has earlier said that getting the amendments approved was a priority for her center-left government during the Cabinet’s remaining two months in office.
Finland will hold a general election in early April.
Spain approved similar legislation allowing gender changes by self-declaration last month.
It comes just weeks after the UK Government blocked gender recognition reforms in Scotland which would have made it easier for people in Scotland to legally change their gender.
The Scottish bill allows people aged 16 or older in Scotland to change the gender designation on their identity documents by self-declaration, removing the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
It also cuts the time trans people must live in a different expressed gender before the change is legally recogniSed, from two years to three months for adults and to six months for people aged 16 and 17.
Scotland minister Alister Jack said he would prevent the bill from getting royal assent, claiming that it conflicts with “Great Britain-wide equalities legislation”.
The Scottish government is likely to challenge the decision at the UK Supreme Court.
