Denmark is discriminating against transgendered people living in the country, recent research by the Danish branch of Amnesty International has concluded.
If transgendered people in Denmark want their sex change to be legally binding – in other words, one that would give them the right to receive a new CPR number or passport – they must go through procedures like castrations or sterilisations, even though large numbers of them only want to undergo hormonal treatment in order to change their appearance.
Amnesty International Denmark campaign leader Helle Jacobsen said the country gives transgendered people an “impossible” choice to make. She explained that they must agree to partake in humiliating interventions like psychological analysis and undergo what is for many an unnecessary operation, or continue living with a gender which is not befitting to their appearance or identity.
Amnesty wants the government to reconsider the castration demand – which it points out can also be extremely risky – for the transgendered who want to obtain a CPR card, passport or any other documents that state their gender.
Jacobsen noted that the castration law goes all the way back to the 1930s, when it was the method of ‘curing’ homosexuals and rapists. He described it as “grotesque” that the transgendered are still treated in such a way.
Amnesty has also urged the government to remove transgender from the country’s list of psychological illnesses as it is offensive and discriminating. Jacobsen explained that the organisation has been pioneers in ensuring homosexuals receive the rights they are entitled to, and they want that to be the case with transgendered people.