A contested proposal to reform Finland's law on gender recognition has been passed with amendments by parliament's Committee for Social Affairs and Health, but without the support of the governing Centre Party.
That prompted a stinging rebuke from Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP), who said that the Centre was once again not playing by agreed rules of co-operation between the five parties in Finland's coalition government.
"We knew beforehand that within the Centre Party there are a few individual legislators that could not support this proposal," said Marin. "This has been noted together and it was known to me, but that should not have affected work in the committee stage."
Marin said that Centre leader Annika Saarikko had herself said that individual votes in parliament should not affect the committee stage of the bill. This latest disagreement comes after a similar blocking move by the Centre Party over a bill on the Sámi Parliament -- which was also part of the government programme.
The committee voted 11-5 in favour of the transgender law proposal, with Centre and Finns Party MPs voting against, and it now moves on for a debate and vote of all 200 MPs in Finland's legislature. That means the measure will be dealt with during this parliamentary term, before MPs go back to the country for an election due on 2 April.
Under the new law a person can change their legal gender via an application process. At the moment changing gender requires individuals to undergo medical evaluation and hormone treatment, and provide evidence of infertility.
The committee added an amendment that stops a person from changing their gender more than once within a 12-month period, unless the applicant has especially significant grounds for the request.
The National Coalition Party (NCP) had requested that change.
"We have crossed the line," said committee chair Markus Lohi (Cen). "There were two dissenting opinions from the Finns Party's and the Centre Party's representatives, but a majority of the committee accepted this with the changes."
NCP representatives on the committee had voted to accept the law, while the Finns Party opposed it. Centre MPs voted against, even though their party is a member of the government that proposed the law.
The Centre's parliamentary group is likely to give MPs a free vote on the measure.
The committee's report included two statements, one on transgender children and another on competitive sports.
The statements ask that the government follow the impact on competitive sports, and if necessary bring in supplementary legislation.
The other statement said the government must evaluate the impact on the promotion of transgender children's right to self-determination, and if necessary pass new legislation.
NCP satisfied with the changes
The vice-chair of the committee, Mia Laiho (NCP), said her party was satisfied with the amendments to the law.
"Yes we're satisfied that we got changes through in such a way that it is more practical to put into use," said Laiho.
The party was particularly pleased that gender can now only be changed once a year. Some in the NCP had expressed the concern that men who are not transgender might change their legal gender in order to avoid military service.
Finland requires male citizens over 18 to complete military or civilian service, but women are not obligated to serve.
The party said on Wednesday that it would decide after the committee had reported back whether it would give MPs a free vote on the law.
"There will surely be a discussion in the parliamentary group," said Laiho.
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