Current Version
| Region | Finland |
| Issue | Right to change legal gender |
| Status | Ambiguous |
| Start Date | Jun 1, 1970 |
| End Date | Aug 18, 1988 |
| Description | The Castration Act (Kastroimislaki 282/1970) entered into force. While this legislation was primarily designed to regulate severe medical interventions and did not explicitly contain provisions for altering a person's legal civil status, it created a state-sanctioned pathway for authorized sex reassignment surgeries under the supervision of the National Board of Health. Because the physical transition was legally regulated and recognized by medical authorities, some individuals who underwent these extensive anatomical changes managed to obtain administrative updates to their gender markers on a purely ad hoc basis. However, there was no guaranteed, standardized, or statutory legal right to official gender recognition during this period, leaving the practice entirely up to the discretion of individual civil registry offices. |
| Sources | https://www.finlex.fi/fi/hallituksen-esitykset/2001/56#bills researchgate.net/publication/326620100_Governing_Juridical_Sex_Gender_Recognition_and_the_Biopolitics_of_Trans_Sterilization_in_Finland |
Revision History (1)
| Original entry | |
|---|---|
| Status | Ambiguous |
| Start Date | Jun 1, 1970 |
| End Date | Aug 18, 1988 |
| Description | The Castration Act (Kastroimislaki 282/1970) entered into force. While this legislation was primarily designed to regulate severe medical interventions and did not explicitly contain provisions for altering a person's legal civil status, it created a state-sanctioned pathway for authorized sex reassignment surgeries under the supervision of the National Board of Health. Because the physical transition was legally regulated and recognized by medical authorities, some individuals who underwent these extensive anatomical changes managed to obtain administrative updates to their gender markers on a purely ad hoc basis. However, there was no guaranteed, standardized, or statutory legal right to official gender recognition during this period, leaving the practice entirely up to the discretion of individual civil registry offices. |
| Sources | https://www.finlex.fi/fi/hallituksen-esitykset/2001/56#bills researchgate.net/publication/326620100_Governing_Juridical_Sex_Gender_Recognition_and_the_Biopolitics_of_Trans_Sterilization_in_Finland |