A law made by Sweden’s congress lowers the threshold for gender change from 18 to 16 and facilitates access to medical procedures.
The legislation passed with 234 votes in favor and 94 against in Sweden’s 349-seat congress.
The new plan, which aimed at facilitating self-identification and simplifying the process, sparked an intense discussion in the Northern nation, despite the Nordic nation being the first to legalize gender reassignment in 1972.
Ulf Kristersson’s center-right coalition has been divided on the subject, with his own Moderates and Liberals mainly supporting the rules while the smaller Christian Democrats were opposed.
The Sweden Democrats, a far-right-leaning nationalist party that supports the government in parliament but is not a part of the government, even opposed it.
Johan Hultberg, an MP for the ruling liberal Moderate party, told parliament: “The vast majority of Swedes did not notice that the law has changed, but for a number of transgender people the fresh law makes a significant and crucial difference.
The new policy aims to make it simpler for a man to alter their lawful identity, not just by lowering the age.
“The process today is very long, it can take up to seven years to change your legal gender in Sweden,” Peter Sidlund Ponkala, president of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Rights (RFSL), told AFP.
On July 1, 2025, two new laws did become effective: one regulating the gender transition of medical procedures and the other regulating the gender transition of administrative procedures.
At 16 years old, people can change their lawful identity, but those under 18 will need the consent of their families, a physician, and the National Board of Health and Welfare.
A person may experience problems as a result of an imbalance between their natural gender and the female they identify as, but a diagnosis of “gender dysphoria” will no longer be required.
Starting at age 18, transitioning surgical procedures may be permitted, but board approval would no longer be required. Starting at age 23, no one can ever have their eggs or testes removed.
Denmark, Norway, Finland and Spain are among nations that already have equivalent laws.
Similar legislation was approved last Friday by European lawmakers, making it simpler for transgender, intersex, and non-binary individuals to change their name and identity in official records straight at enrollment offices.
A bill that allows individuals 16 or older to change their gender title on identification documents can be changed by the British congress in the UK in 2022. It was blocked by the American authorities, a decision that Scotland’s highest civic court upheld in December.
The policy made Scotland unique from the rest of the UK, where medical treatment and the minimum age requirement are both required.
Swedish authorities issued a warning about the need for caution when they decided in 2022 to stop hormone treatment for minors except in extremely rare cases, and decided that mastectomies for young girls wanting to change may be limited to a study setting.
Gender dysphoria situations are on the increase in Sweden. This is especially noticeable among 13- to 17-year-olds born women, with an increase of 1,500% since 2008, according to the Board of Health and Welfare.
Although the progressive and liberal nation has long had a high tolerance for sex change, the new proposal has caused domestic divisions in all political parties.
A poll published this week suggested almost 60% of Swedes oppose the proposal, while only 22% back it.
Members of parliament spent six days debating the proposal in a sign of the powerful emotions it caused.
