(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Imagine a stone muzzle. Sort the small stones in one pile, and the big stones in another. It will be okay for a long time, but eventually you will get to the medium ones, the ones that are not so easy to place. Think of other mixed amounts. In all, some categories will stand out clearly, while others remain vague.
Now the champagne bottles are empty and the cigars are blunt. The rights fight for lesbians and gays has come to an important victory with the new Marriage Act, and that fight can be stepped down. Many point out that now is the time for international work and is right about it. It is also time to expand our perspectives within our national borders. Mostly, organizations such as Skeiv Ungdom and LLH have fought for sexual minorities. But the discrimination mechanisms we are exposed to are the same as invisible sex offenders. Estimates say that one of 10 000 is trans-estimated. Some qualify for the diagnosis of "transsexualism" and receive gender-affirming treatment at the National Hospital's Gender Identity Disorder (GID) clinic. But many are rejected, often because they do not want complete gender confirmation. These are without medical offers and without discrimination.
"Most people have the experience of being a woman or a man and understand these as the only alternatives. This does not apply to everyone. Some do not feel like gender at all, feel like both sexes, or do not want to relate to gender. Some will only have an upper surgery, or just hormones, or both, but not 'new' penis or vagina. Then they are not genuine according to the definitions of GID », writes Caro Kirsebom in a call to the Norwegian Board of Health. We are here back to the rock: The variations between people are enormous, to believe that biological, genetic, social, physical and cultural gender can easily be united in two all-embracing and mutually exclusive categories is, to put it mildly, simplifying.
One of those who has been central to expanding the understanding of gender is the physician and sexologist Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad. Esben Esther experiences herself as bisexual or "completely unspecified trans." They live well with it, just as others live well, such as the non-gender. As a doctor, he has helped three trans people who do not get help from GID, to have their breasts removed. They have received a request for "chest reduction due to back pain" to a private clinic.
The story of one of those Pirelli Benestad has helped has leaked to GID and the Norwegian Board of Health. An accusation has been made against Benestad because in Norway only GID has permission to deal with gender-related needs. Hin is also accused of misusing state funds because a requisition has been used where the state pays for the surgery, and it is illegal to both write and follow an incorrect requisition.
Here it is necessary to look at the background to the offenses. For those concerned, it's about life and health. There are absolutely necessary offenses. The reason is GID's autocracy and exclusive understanding of gender, which is out of step with much social science and scientific theory. Esben Esther believed that the ethical one had to take responsibility and be the one who broke the law for the good of those who do not find themselves at home in a strict bisexual regime.
GID is vital for those who receive treatment there, but can also be life-threatening for those who are rejected from there. When the law threatens people's ability to have a good time with their bodies, identities and lives, it may be necessary to break the law. Pirelli Benestad has done so, but that does not mean that it is the other medical practice that must be corrected, but rather the legislation and the treatment offered.
