The Danish CPR administration announced on August 11th, that in certain situations, transgender individuals under the age of 18 must be granted the opportunity to change their legal gender. This decision, as per the CPR Administration, is rooted in “Denmark’s international obligations”.

In Denmark, every individual is assigned a civil registration number, called CPR number. If you are assigned female at birth, the last digit is even, whereas you get an uneven last digit if you are assigned male at birth.

LGBT+ Denmark has long worked to give young trans people access to change their legal gender, and in that context also pointed out that it is likely in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights to refuse to grant a CPR change – which the Ministry of Justice has also confirmed, most recently in a response to The Judiciary Committee last year. This concerns, among other things, the child’s right to privacy.

The former social democratic government had a bill ready to allow for legal gender change for minors, but it was not put to a vote, and the new government has not been able to agree on an official stance on the issue during its first year.

LGBT+ Denmark expects the Ministry of the Interior to issue clear guidelines for children and their parents soon, and that the government will implement a legislative amendment that brings Danish legislation in line with the human rights convention.

A quick analysis of the case from our legal consultant Max Maskell reads:

“We encourage all families with young people who want to change their legal gender to apply. It may be easier to get if you receive gender affirming care, but gender affirming care is not a requirement.  If you apply and get a response, the legal counselling would love to hear from you, so that we can use your experience to advise others.”

Read the full statement on the CPR Administration website (Danish)