Swedish politicians voted in favour of the new set of laws during a legislative session on Thursday (18 April), passing it by 234 votes to 94, with 21 abstaining or not voting.
Under one of the new bills, set to come into force in July 2025, applicants interested in changing their legal gender as part of their transition can now do so when 16 rather than waiting until they are 18.
The other bill will make the process of diagnosing gender dysphoria easier, minimising it to a short consultation with a doctor or psychologist and the approval of the National Board of Health and Welfare.
The legal process will be separated from applications for gender-related surgery, which will need a longer assessment and will only be an option for those over the age of 18. Gender-reassignment surgery, often called “bottom surgery,” will remain an option only for the over-23s.
Those under the age of 16 applying to change their legal gender on government documents will require the approval of a parent or guardian, and will also need to be sanctioned by a doctor and the National Board of Health and Welfare.
The prime minister and leader of the liberal-conservative Moderate Party, Ulf Kristersson, said the proposal was “balanced and responsible”.
Fellow Moderate Party MP Johan Hultberg said that a “great majority” of Swedes will not notice that the law has changed, but those it affects will see “a large and important difference.”
Sweden lowers the age of legal gender change to 16 without parental or guardian approval. Those under 16 seeking to make a legal gender change must do so with parental or guardian approval.
If you're planning top surgery, I just saw a free protocol to optimize recovery: it's a list of prehab & rehab exercises with minimal equipment and extensive explanations/pictures and it was made by Dr. Jen Crane, a PT specialized in top surgery rehab.
Link here
(there's also other free stuff to help with the procedure)
The Iraqi Parliament has passed a law punishing homosexuals with 10 to 15 years in prison; transgender, gender-nonconforming people with one to three years in prison; and anyone who “promotes” homosexuality with seven years. The law has been criticized by the U.S. State Department and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.
Parliament passed the “Law on Combating Prostitution and Homosexuality,” an amendation of a 1988 anti-sex work law, on April 27, with 170 out of 329 members of Parliament supporting the law. Most supporters were from highly conservative Shia Muslim parties, The Star Observer reported. An earlier version punished homosexuality with the death penalty, but that provision was removed after strong opposition from the U.S. and European nations.
In addition to criminalizing same-sex acts and “promoting” homosexuality, the new provisions criminalize individuals who undergo gender-affirming healthcare as well as medical professionals who provide such care. It also criminalizes “wife swapping” and those who dress in a way deemed to be “imitating women.”
[...]
Previously, Iraq had no laws criminalizing homosexuality. However, authorities there regularly entrap, arrest, and detain LGBTQ+ individuals on vague, trumped-up “morality,” “debauchery,” “prostitution,” and “cybercrime” charges. In jail, they’re interrogated; denied access to lawyers, visitors, or medical care; physically and sexually abused; and forced to sign confessions, often being extorted and blackmailed afterward, Human Rights Watch reported.
Iraq's parliament passes heavy-handed anti-LGBTQ+ extremist law that would imprison gay men with 15 years jail, trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming people with 1-3 years, and any promoter of LGBTQ+ rights with 7 years. It also criminalizes who have undergone gender-confirmation surgery.
Previously, Iraq technically had no laws criminalizing LGBTQ+ expression; however, authorities there regularly entrap, arrest, and detain LGBTQ+ individuals on vague, trumped-up “morality,” “debauchery,” “prostitution,” and “cybercrime” charges.
See Also:
PinkNews: Iraq’s criminalisation of same-sex relationships and LGBTQ+ people an ‘attack on human rights’
With tits or not, anyone can tell what you are from across the street.
And when you enter a male bathroom, you won't feel """"euphoria"""", you'll feel endangered for a reason
1. yes my pronouns are he/they! i also like pup/pups, and my headmate rowena uses she/her, thank you for checking :)
2. “anyone can tell what you are from across the street” good i love being a faggot. i hope other trans people see me and feel safe <3
3. you saying this as if i have not used the men’s bathroom before in complete comfort without being clocked LMAO. idk why you people pretend to know anything about my life
hiiiiiii it’s ya boyyy um. I’M FINALLY GETTING TOP SURGERY!!!!! this is definitely a reach to post this on tumblr, but i do know quite a few of you and any and all donations would mean the world to me. i love you guys. ❤️
I hate insurance companies so much. They said I have to be taking testosterone for at least a year in order for my top surgery to be covered by insurance. But I don't want to hormonally transition since the only medical part of my transition would be top surgery. I am androgynous enough I just want the tits gone then I can just cut my hair and pass as androgynous as I want. But if I dont take testosterone then my top surgery wont be covered by insurance and since I live in America where just getting a bandaid put on at the hospital can cost between a few hundred to a few thousand dollars insurance is definitely needed to avoid bankruptcy. It sucks so much :(
Maybe I could fly to Europe and get top surgery there but could I even do that since Im not a European citizen?
I've had some weird hypersensitivity/extreme tenderness extending from my left incision to my pubic area. There's no inflammation, swelling, or color changes so my best guess is that it's nerves healing and doing weird things. Other than that, my pain is more akin to post-workout muscle soreness or a tender bruise. I have had some crampiness that I assume is from thing healiny and settling (my surgeon warned me that may happen). I've been taking ibuprofen as needed, about once a day or less. My spotting comes and goes, with it gone more than it's here.
I had the beginnings of a migraine a couple days ago and have been having headaches; not sure if it's stress related or due to eye strain from using my laptop/phone/switch all day.
Yesterday I felt kinda puny/almost ill but today I'm back to normal. Overall I'm trending towards less pain and closer to my normal but I am still having some ups and downs. I'm still tired but at this point I'm not sure if it's because of healing or not being active or just because I'm a sleepy lil guy.
Also the dermabond over my incisions is starting to come up and it's taking all my willpower not to peel it all off 😬
I've seen several versions of this art in the last couple of days, and I've linked to the artist so that you can support them, as you should. https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/988053198/trans-the-lovers-tarot-card-print
I love this so much. My experience as a trans woman has been that our healthcare expects us to want to mimic a cis woman in body and in mind as much as possible, and I feel like this erases part of who I am. I took a year to consider whether or not I wanted to pursue GCS, and it's been almost three more years getting ready for it. I decided that's what will make me happiest, and it will resolve a lot of dysphoria I experience.
But this surgery does not make me a woman.
I've always been a woman. I explored the idea that I was genderfluid, but the more I presented as femme and found happiness, the more presenting masc caused me dysphoria. So in that way, I learned where was most comfortable for me. And it's not like I didn't give masc a chance, I tried to be cis for most of my life, and recognizing my transness answered too many questions and brought too much happiness for me to continue to ignore. As much as dysphoria forced my hand, euphoria did too.
Trans women face enormous pressure to conform to high femininity, and it's something I've stopped doing in the last couple of years. I've accepted my broad chin, my high forehead, my bushy legs, my deep voice. I don't see these things as masculine anymore, they're just me. And I wasn't hiding them for me, I was hiding them to be accepted. Much like cis women are told they must do to be attractive.
But I don't have to prove my womanhood to anyone.
The reason I love this art so much is because it celebrates what society deems are incongruent elements, and recognizes us as sacred beings. Whether you choose to have surgery, or not, you are no less beautiful a trans person for that choice. You do not have to abide by what the gender binary dictates.
Sometimes, when other trans women find out I'm one of us, the first thing they want to talk about, is surgery. And it makes me sad that society pressures my sisters so hard into believing that they're not a valid woman without it. I’m talking about relative strangers here, not my sisters who know me and whose experiences we’re relating to. Sometimes, I don't want to talk about it. I want to talk about spinny dresses. Floral prints. Herbal tea. Second breakfast. Art. Music. I'm basically Rosie Cotton, Sam Gamgee's wife. I've been living as a woman for years now. I want to talk about the joy that brings me.
What's in our pants shouldn't define us, before or after we emerge from the closet. Just because I choose "woman" as my title, does not mean I have to perpetuate harmful gender stereotyping. We're experiencing a resurgence and acceptance of gender outside the binary the likes of which the world hasn't seen for decades. And just because I'm a woman, doesn't mean I don't want to be a part of that new world.