Rambling about the Finnish trans law

Recently I've noticed that a lot of people are seemingly unaware about the current state of affairs of the legal situation surrounding transgender people and their legal requirements before they can change their legal gender in Finland. After I had explained to my friends overseas about the current legal status of transgender individuals and what kind of hurdles they must overcome when they wish to change their legal identity, I realized that most Finnish people around here are completely unaware of these as well.

Currently as it stands, transgender individuals must provide a certificate of sterilization to a Local Register Office (census if you will) and they also must have the green light from the medical personnel who are supervising said person's transition. The approval of the medical personnel in question must be obtained by a "real life test".

Essentially what this means is:

1. The purpose of the Real Life Test is to determine whether or not the person in question is comfortable and identifies his/herself as the gender they wish to be identified as. This is a bit redundant seeing how this test is conducted AFTER being diagnosed with gender dysphoria and after the beginning of Hormone Replacement Therapy as well.

The Real Life Test in practice just means it's an additional waiting time for those transgender people who are already comfortable with the gender identity they have chosen. During this test they are basically saying "before we go any further, go on a test drive in your new car" AFTER we have spent months driving the damn thing!

2. The Sterilization requirement is mandatory if a transgender person wishes to change their ID and official gender. According to personal testimonies and information that is available on the internet, Hormone Replacement Therapy for male-to-female transgender patients warrants a sterilization certificate in some cases. Usually by the time official gender becomes an issue, the person in question has been on HRT for longer than just three months, so in the end getting that certificate is just another bit of wasted time on everyone's part.

However, the case for female-to-male transgender patients is a different matter. To my understanding, female-to-male transgender individuals have to undergo a surgical procedure to get their uterus removed before they can be granted a sterilization certificate. Now, despite the fact that MOST female-to-male individuals desire to have their uterus removed, the issue of equality still very much exists.

Is it fair that male-to-female persons get away with three months of Hormone Replacement Therapy in some cases, without their ability to reproduce being properly looked into? Female-to-male individuals have pretty much no choice but to remove the uterus, thus not being able to reproduce at all.

I don't think that these requirements are fair or reasonable at all. In a democratic and peaceful society like Finland, we shouldn't have to undergo forced sterilization just because we are different. How would anyone feel if they were forcibly castrated just because of their core identity?

The state should not be the one to tell it's citizens who should and should not be allowed to reproduce.

(Source (in Finnish): Sukupuolenkorjausprosessi Suomessa)