A new EU law would see children be able to pick their own gender. The European Commission has outlined a new strategy that would see member states punished for introducing age limits on gender recognition, with therapy designed to assertain whether children do actually want to change their own gender banned. Documents state: “Requirements for legal gender recognition vary significantly across member states.” They added: “While a number of member states have adopted self-identification models, others impose medical procedures, which the European Court of Human Rights has found may infringe human rights.
“The commission will facilitate exchanges of best practices among member states to support the development of legal gender recognition procedures based on self-determination that are free from age restrictions.” The strategy has been described as “chilling”, with critics warning that the plans would mean that there would no way for parents or professionals to put off gender-changing procedures without making sure the child definitely wanted to go ahead with them.
Maya Forstater, chief executive of sex-based rights charity Sex Matters, told the Telegraph that the proposal “pushes legal gender self-identification for children of any age and a ban on talking therapy for vulnerable children”.
She added: “It is a mercy that British campaigners for sex-based rights don’t have to deal with this sinister strategy and the pernicious capture of EU institutions, on top of our own challenges in the UK.”
The EU strategy notes: “Social acceptance of LGBTIQ people has steadily increased across the EU over the last years.
“The findings of the third LGBTIQ survey of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) show that LGBTIQ people are more open about their sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics in their social environment (52%, up 6 percentage points since 2019), with this trend more evident for trans, non-binary, gender diverse and intersex respondents.”
It adds: “At the same time, according to the FRA survey, there has been a significant increase in hate-motivated harassment targeting LGBTIQ people, with more than half reporting that they had experienced this (55%, up 18 percentage points since 2019). Respondents in most EU countries also reported more frequent physical and sexual attacks, particularly affecting trans, non-binary, gender-diverse and intersex people.”
