Reykjavík Grapevine - 18.05.2012, Side 10

10
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 6 — 2012
Iceland is known for its liberal
attitude towards gay people—
it was in fact the first European
country to recognise same-
sex unions in 1996 and adop-
tion by gay people in 2006, and
then it was the first to elect an
openly gay head of state in
2009. But how does Icelandic
society respond to transgen-
der people? Is it just as sup-
portive?
The transgender community is
certainly not as prominent as the
gay community. However, trans-
gender people seem to have
gained more recognition, and if a
bill sent to Alþingi this March be-
comes law Iceland could become
number one in terms of transgen-
der rights in the Nordic countries.
BEING ICELANd’S FIRST
TRANSGENdER PERSON
The situation was, however, not all
that rosy twenty years back. Anna
Kristjánsdóttir was the first Ice-
lander to undergo a sexual reas-
signment surgery, or SRS, sixteen
years ago. She has been divorced
for 28 years and has three kids
with her ex-wife and six grand-
children.
Although she was in her early
forties when she made the tran-
sition, Anna had been thinking
about it for many years. “I don’t
think it happened in such a radi-
cal way,” Anna says. “I’d been
dreaming about it all the time,
since I was a kid, as I was never
satisfied with my gender.”
Anna’s search for help from
the Icelandic medical community
in Iceland, which began in the
1980s, was entirely unsuccess-
ful. “At first, the reactions were
negative, from all over Iceland,”
she says. “You can say that I was
forced to move away in the end,
because I didn’t get any help here
in Iceland.”
She thus relocated to Sweden
in 1989. “Sweden was ahead of
all other nations in terms of atti-
tudes toward transgender people
in the late ’80s, but at first it was a
struggle there as well,” she says.
“I was a member of the Swedish
Transsexual Society at the time,
but it wasn’t until 1992, when I
got help from a doctor in Uppsala,
that everything became much
easier. I went through a SRS in
April 1995.”
ACCEPTANCE COMES
SLOWLY
Anna moved back to Iceland in
1996 and began searching for
work. “I sent out seventy job ap-
plications before I got a job—and
it was in some cases clearly be-
cause of what I had done,” she
says. “I was the only transgender
person in Iceland at that time and
that’s probably why I got mainly
negative attitudes from people. I
kept on trying though.”
While it took a long time, Anna
says attitudes are changing due
to the growth of the transgender
community in Iceland, which she
estimates at around 50 people to-
day. “I believe that gay legislation
in 1996 played a big role in chang-
ing points of view for our commu-
nity as well. In 2007, we founded
the society Trans-Iceland, which
was part of getting more accep-
tance from the outside,” she says.
“Around 2005/2006 attitudes re-
ally seemed to change, partly
because more people came out.
The healthcare system adopted
a much more positive stance on
transgender issues, which made it
much easier for us.”
Incorporating such a huge
change in her personal life given
her role as a mother has also been
challenging. Anna acknowledges
that it was a difficult phase for the
kids, but that things have again
become better and that at least
one of them is very positive about
her today. A beautiful anecdote
underlines this: for his mother’s
sixtieth birthday, her oldest son
wrote on his Facebook that he
was “very proud of the woman his
father has become.”
SEEKING
TRANSGENdER RIGHTS
While things are looking up in
Iceland due to the bill on trans-
gender rights, which would make
Iceland number one of the Nordic
countries in terms of transgender
rights, the situation is far from
perfect. “I think that today Iceland
is at the same stage as Germany,
the Netherlands and the UK when
it comes to attitudes,” she says.
“In all these countries you can of
course still find discrimination.”
Last month in Reykjavík, for in-
stance, a transgender person was
beaten up in a men’s restroom by
three men who did not approve of
his use of the toilets.
Anna is nevertheless optimis-
tic. “It’s the attitude that matters,
and the Icelandic attitude is good.
For single people, for gay people
and now it is becoming increas-
ingly better—if slowly—for trans
people too,” Anna says, smiling.
Iceland | LGBT
Being Transgender in Iceland
Words
Sarah Pepin
Photography
Juli Vol
Iceland has not always been this liberal, Anna Kristjánsdóttir tells us
“It’s the attitude that matters, and the
Icelandic attitude is good. For single people,
for gay people and now it is becoming increas-
ingly better—if slowly—for trans people too.”
Mountaineers of Iceland • Skútuvogur 12E • 104 Reykjavík • Iceland
Telephone: +354 580 9900 Ice@mountaineers.is • www.mountaineers.is • www. activity.is
SUPER JEEP & SNOWMOBILE TOURS
WHAT’S IN THE PROPOSEd
LAW ON TRANSGENdER
RIGHTS?
The proposed law’s objective is to
guarantee that transgender people are
treated equally before law according to
human rights and fundamental free-
doms.
If it is passed this June, Landspítali
National University Hospital of Ice-
land will be required to have a team
of specialists on Gender Identity Dis-
order (GID). The team will include
psychiatrists, psychologists and endo-
crinologists, and its role will be to di-
agnose and treat individuals with GID.
The Minister of Welfare will em-
ploy an expert committee on GID,
including two doctors and one lawyer,
appointed by the minister. The com-
mittee will serve a four-year term.
After an individual diagnosed
with GID has worked with the team of
doctors at Landspítali and confirmed
their new gender with the expert com-
mittee, the committee will notify The
National Registry. The individual will
then be permitted to change their
name according to their new gender
(note: In Iceland, males must take
male names and females must take fe-
male names as recognised by a special
Naming Committee).
An individual who is registered in
The National Registry but undergoes
a sexual reassignment surgery (SRS)
while living abroad can request that
the National Registry change their
name in their database. The National
Register will assesses the application,
including whether the name change
and/or correction of sex have been au-
thorised by competent authorities or
courts.
An individual who has changed
genders will be guaranteed the same
rights as people of this gender enjoy.
In the case that an individual de-
cides to return to their previous sex,
they may seek help from Landspítali’s
team of doctors, which will review the
application and potentially revoke the
gender change (this is very rare).
The proposed law will be voted on
this June 27, 2012, on the anniversary
of the Stonewall Riots.
Samtökin '78 is Iceland's interest and an activist group for homosexual, bisexual and
transgender people. Learn more about them at www.samtokin78.is/english