Marin at Pride march: New trans law to parliament in September | News
The police estimated that 70-80,000 people participated in the Helsinki Pride march on Saturday.
prime minister Sanna Marin (SDP) said on Saturday that the government will present a new law on transgender rights to the parliament as soon as its autumn session begins in September.
Marin said that long planned legislative reform has been delayed because the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has had a heavy workload during the corona pandemic.
“Hopefully, we can deliver the proposal during this summer. It has been carefully prepared and sent to comment rounds. This is a very important matter for me personally, and it will be given to the parliament as soon as it starts its autumn session,” Marin told Yle at the march.
The legislature returns to work on September 6.
The new law changes, among other things, how paternity and motherhood are recorded in the population information system. A separate record from the paternity or maternity record is being planned, which could be changed if a person legally corrects their gender, reports Helsingin Sanomat on Saturday.
Marin spoke to Yle after joining tens of thousands of people to march in Saturday’s Helsinki Pride parade. Marin, who described growing up in a “rainbow family” last fall, has been a patron of Helsinki Pride for several years.
“We celebrate equality,” Marin said. “I try to participate every year. Even today, the structures of society place people in an unequal position.”
Saturday was the first Helsinki Pride parade since 2019. The marchers proceeded from Senatintor to Kaivopuisto in very hot weather.
Concern after the Oslo and Oodi incidents
The police estimated that 70-80,000 people participated in the procession.
Around 2:30 p.m., they said in a tweet that the event had gone smoothly and that traffic in the downtown area was returning to normal.
Police heard no reports of disruptive behavior during the event, which came a week after a Pride march in neighboring Norway was canceled following a deadly shooting outside an LGBTQ bar in Oslo.
A day earlier in Helsinki, the police removed mixers trying to disturb Pride week event at Oodi central library.
Dragon Queen was hosting a storytime event for children when protesters tried to disrupt the proceedings, police said. According to the librarian Anna-Maria Soininvaarasome of the protesters used a swastika.
This led to clashes in the lower lobby of the library building. The story event in the children’s area upstairs was not disturbed. The police removed several people, but stated that there were no grounds to arrest them.