Könstillhörighetslagen - heteronormativitetens väktare Grunderna för Sveriges könstillhörighetslag ur ett queerteoretiskt perspektiv

Sammanfattning: According to its preparatory work, Sweden's law on gender recognition shall consist of two separate parts in the process of gender recognition, but in practice does not. A joint application is made for permission to change the gender registration in the population register (often called the legal gender) and to certain medical gender-confirming care. The same argument is used to justify a medical examination prior to both of these measures, although a change in the population register today must not have been preceded by sterilization or other measures linked to health care. The process of changing the legal gender is thus, contrary to several European law recommendations, not accessible, quick and transparent. It is based on heteronormative perceptions about gender and gender recognition where what deviates is primarily suspected to be due to mental illness. An individual must thus prove themselves, both to the general public and to their care provider, to be genuine in the self-perceived gender. The requirements set out in 1 § of the law on gender recognition, which stipulate a change in the population register, are also unclear and indefinite. For example, applicants must have been identifying with the other legal gender for some time, be living in accordance with that gender role and be assumed to live according to that gender in the future. It is not clear, neither in the preparatory work nor in the legal text, how an individual should be able to reach these requirements or how the evaluation of whether the requirements are met or not should be made. The only thing that is stated is that an investigation must be lengthy due to its subjective nature. In a heteronormative society, demands of this kind are not in need of further explanation, it is obvious which characteristics, appearances and actions are attributed to the respective legal gender. These are essentially the same requirements that are placed on the so-called biological genders. Therefore, such requirements are not startling. From a queer theoretical perspective, it is instead very remarkable. It seems more important to maintain the binary gender roles and the expectations that follow them, rather than letting each individual determine their gender and gender identity. The maintenance of heteronormativity in Sweden's law on gender recognition contributes to complicating the vulnerability that persons who deviate from this normativity already live within every day.