Don't Stigmatise transgender people
On Tuesday, Norway's parliament outlawed hate speech against transgender and bisexual people, extending its penal code that has protected gay and lesbian people since 1981.
Now, even people speaking in private could be punished for the offensive use of the terms "gender", "gender identity" or "gender expression" with up to a year in prison, including for offensive comments directed at transgender people. The new law also tightens up criminal penalties by allowing up to three years in prison for public comments that are allegedly discriminatory against trans people.
With the new legislation, the Norwegian Parliament has expanded and substantially tightened the anti-discrimination law of 1981. In the law, deputies replaced the term "homosexual orientation" with "sexual orientation”.
The law also tightens penalties for violent cases motivated by the victim's sexual orientation.
Norwegian Justice Minister Monica Maeland supports the law. "As a group, they are more exposed to discrimination, harassment, and violence," she said. The law is also being applauded by the Norwegian Association of Transgender People (ILGA), which states that "homophobic crimes" have become increasingly common in recent years.
The bill was approved on its second reading without a vote, a parliamentary spokeswoman said after it was backed by lawmakers on its first reading last week.
"I'm very relieved because the lack of legal protection has been an eyesore for trans people for many, many years," said Birna Rorslett, vice president of the Association of Transgender People in Norway.
The law is causing a stir on social networks, especially regarding criminal penalties for statements individuals make in private, with freedom of speech advocates warning it amounts to a severe restriction on what an individual can say, including in the privacy of their own home. Lawyer Anine Kierulf from the University of Oslo claims a court must prove a direct attack or comments against the transgender, saying, "There are a lot of hateful things you can still say about these groups."
However, there is no clear line what can be said and not said about transgender people and in what kind of circumstances it may lead to criminal prosecution. The European Union's police force, Europol, for example, has conducted house raids in multiple countries, seized property, and investigated 96 suspects for social media comments that included insulting a female politician and anti-Semitic comments.
The Norwegian law comes at a time when European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli is proposing financial sanctions for countries that do not respect the rights of the LGBTQI community, with countries like Hungary and Poland seen as potential targets. Hungary, for example, has recognised gender as biological. The Commissioner wants to link respect for these rights to European subsidies, which the EU is threatening to do at the moment. Hungary and Poland have vetoed the EU budget in response, setting up a showdown that remains unresolved.
"We have entered a new era in the fight for equality. This strategy is part of that era," Dalli told Politico. Malta, where the Commissioner comes from, is, along with Denmark, at the top of the charts in terms of countries that support LGBT+ people. However, Poland and Hungary have strongly criticized its plans and threaten to bring the dispute before the European Court of Justice.
Norway is one of the most liberal countries in Europe for LGBT+ people, allowing trans people to legally change gender without a medical diagnosis in 2016.
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