If you are transgender and living in Denmark, you are forced to undergo castration/sterilization if you wish to obtain a legal gender change. This is baffling since Denmark is an EU member state, and the European Parliament has just called for putting an end to the pathologization of transsexuals. In Denmark's eyes, transgender individuals are sick and suffering from a mental disorder. Denmark obviously haven't kept up with recent research that reveals differences in the brain structure of transgender individuals and non-transgender individuals. Transpeople are born this way, it is not a matter of choice or delusions. The brain is either feminized or masculinized from birth, creating a great deal of stress and unhappiness with the biological gender. Transpeople therefore need help and an understanding health care system. But in Denmark the options are few and not very appealing.

It is worth noting that the castration demand for transsexuals is an amendment to an old Danish law meant for castration of sex criminals and mentally ill people. There are no dispensation options, if you are too old or too sick to undergo such surgery. And for those not wanting to be castrated or sterilized it leaves them unable to obtain a legal gender change.

Transmen- or women who are in hormonal treatment therefore present themselves to the outside world as one gender while their identity papers says something else. It causes a lot of issues when dealing with doctors, banks, the post office, public institutions and authorities etc. All Danes have an ID number that follows you your whole life. The last digit in that number determines your gender. It is therefore impossible to hide your legal gender as a transperson in Denmark. You can also not change your first name to that of the opposite gender because it is deemed 'inappropriate' unless you've had a legal gender change first. Instead, you are graciously 'allowed' to pick from a list of 568 unisex names.
If transpeople wish to avoid these daily humiliations and legal restrictions, they are essentially forced to undergo castration/sterilization which consists of removal of the penis and testes for biological males and removal of uterus and ovaries for biological females.

The castration demand is deeply discriminatory and violating for many reasons:

- In order to get a castration 'permit', you have to first undergo 2-4 years (!) of psychological evaluation and suffer the humiliation of being diagnosed with gender identity disorder. This evaluation takes place at only one clinic that otherwise deals with sex issues and sex offenders. To obtain a diagnosis is extremely hard. Less than 30 of these diagnoses are made per year.
- The law is a direct violation of basic human rights such as the right to start a family and the right to proper health care.
- The law sends a direct signal that it is not OK for transpeople to have children
- Castration serves no direct medical or cosmetic purpose for transitioning. It is quite possible to transition and pass without removing a penis or uterus/ovaries.
- There are no options for dispensation or filing a complaint
- If you're an immigrant living in Denmark, you might be in a situation where your home country doesn't require castration for legal gender change. This can lead to confusing situations with dual legal identities, if your home country recognizes your new gender and Denmark doesn't.

Please make the Danish Ministry of Health change the conditions for obtaining legal gender change, so transgender people in Denmark can have their basic human rights restored. They are not sick, nor sex offenders and they should be granted easy access to legal gender change so they can live their lives peacefully as who they really are!