In Sweden, prior to 2013, any transgender person wishing to go through with a sex change operation, and thus be able to establish their new gender legally, would have to be sterilized. It was mandatory, as required by law. This also meant that you were not allowed to freeze sperm or eggs, making any future Artificial Insemination or In Vitro Fertilization illegal. Any sex change operation performed in Sweden between 1972 and 2013 included forced sterilization.

After this law was changed, RFSL, an LGBTQ+ rights organization in Sweden, campaigned for compensation for each of the people affected by this law. The Swedish government combatted the request until 2017, when they finally agreed to pay a symbolic sum of 225,000 SEK (~USD $26,000.00) to each person affected by the previous law, in order to avoid a lawsuit. For some people, it's a life-changing amount of money.

However.

The plan to distribute the money was formed without any consultation from the clinics that specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and study of transgender people and transsexualism. The resulting plan was to print pamphlets to put out in the waiting rooms of these clinics, from which the patient could then read about the compensation and how to apply for it. The window of application was 2 years, and patients who, for some reason, were not summoned within those 2 years, missed out on it.

And people did miss out on it.

And so, in their attempts to get answers, they were met with responses in style of "It is unfortunate that you weren't summoned, we don't know why that happened" and "There is no guarantee that you would get hold of the information even if you were summoned".

Alternatively, when forming the plan, they could have consulted the clinics or ask for advice on how to reach out to the people who were entitled to the compensation, but they chose not to. Had they, they would have been told that each patient in the journal system is tagged with a code that they can then use to establish some sort of contact with regarding this life changing sum of money.

Now, some of the people who are rightfully entitled to, missed out on the compensation as a result of negligence from their government, and from the healthcare systems.

After repeated attempts to go through official Swedish channels meant to exist and serve patients who have been wronged in Swedish healthcare, such as IVO and among many, SLL's internal dispute system, these individuals are left with no faith for the government and feel betrayed and abandoned as none of departments can, or will help.

The one advice that constantly comes up is "You should sue to the government"; this is a lengthy process that costs a lot of money. These people are not asking for special treatment, they don't want their names in the newspaper, these people want justice. And justice is not something you should have to pay money for.

Please give these individuals the money they are entitled to, because it is the right thing to do.