Norwegians now can change genders legally with a mouse click
HAUGESUND, Norway — Ten-year-old Anna Thulin-Myge’s passport shows what looks like an ordinary Norwegian girl wearing her long, blond hair fastened with a clip. It lists her first name as Anna, but under sex it says “M.”
“That means male,” Anna says, running her finger across the document. “In some weeks I’m going to have a new passport, and then it’s going to say ‘F.’”
Norway, a wealthy, progressive nation of 5 million people, recently became the fifth country in the world to allow adults to legally change genders without a doctor’s agreement or intervention. Argentina, Ireland and Denmark have similar laws. But only Malta and Norway have extended the liberalized rules to children.
Provided they have parental consent, Norwegian children as young as 6 can now self-identify as male or female, effectively overruling the gender assigned to them at birth. Anna is one of nine minors in the country to have taken advantage since the new rules were adopted in June.