The government is proposing to allow gender reassignment for children from birth and to abolish the current minimum age requirement.

The government plans to submit a proposal next October to abolish the minimum legal age for gender reassignment, so that the law gives children the right to change their gender from birth, instead of the current legislation which sets the age at 18.

The announcement of the proposal comes as part of the government's new LGBTQ+ plan, according to Jyllands-Posten.

According to the media, if the proposal is adopted, it could mean that Danish regulations in this regard would be ahead of the curve in Europe.

A legal change of gender means that the person concerned can change their gender in the social security register, and with the government's proposal, it will be possible to make a legal gender change for children starting from the age of zero, i.e., from birth, provided that the parents consent if the child is under 15 years old.

The Ethics Council proposed a legal age limit for gender reassignment of ten years old. The Social Democratic government had made the same proposal two years earlier and received partial support from the supporting parties, but not all parties were willing to agree and vote on the draft resolution. It was then that the Ethics Council reached a clear conclusion when the Danish Parliament decided to consult with the Council at that time, and proposed lowering the minimum legal age to between 10 and 12 years old.

The council then presented its recommendations that “it is assumed that a preschool child cannot formulate a desire to change their legal gender, and it should be considered that there is doubt as to whether children before puberty can see the underlying reasons and have an overview of the consequences of a possible change in legal gender. Taking such a position requires a certain degree of maturity and awareness.” Based on the Ethics Council’s proposal, the Social Democratic Party (currently in power) partially backed down and called for a review of several points.

But now the government has changed its mind and will again propose abolishing the minimum legal age.

The Conservative Party strongly opposes
Birgit Bergmann, the Conservative Party's spokesperson on gender equality, told Jyllands-Posten that she believes children should be allowed to be children, and that a child is not old enough to decide about changing their gender when they are not even allowed to decide when to go to sleep.