Sweden: November 16, 2008

Transvestism, along with six other sexual behaviours, will be struck from Sweden’s official list of medical diagnoses starting on January 1st, 2009. The National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) took the decision to declassify the behaviours as illnesses in order to avoid strengthening prejudices about them, said Lars-Erik Holm, Director General of Health and Welfare.

“We don't want to contribute to certain sexual behaviours being thought of as diseases. These individuals’ sexual preferences have nothing to do with society,” he explained in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.

The other diagnoses which will soon disappear from the disease registry include fetishism, fetishistic transvestitism, sadomasochism, gender identity disorder in youth, and multiple disorders of sexual preferences.

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On 1 January 2009, the Health and Welfare, therefore, to remove the six diagnoses of sexual behavior out of care diagnostic systems. Today these are sorted in under mental illnesses and behavior disorders.

"These diagnoses stem from a time when anything other than heterosexual missionary position was seen as sexual perversion, "says Lars-Erik Holm.

"Welfare want with this change to emphasize that this is behavior that is not the disease, nor is perverse, "he said.

The diagnostic system is there to care is to be able to produce statistics on its health care operations. But many see it instead as a list of diseases. A similar change was made for nearly 30 years ago when the diagnosis of homosexuality was removed in 1979.

"That we removed the homosexual diagnosis, I think to some extent contributed to the public has a different view of homosexuals today than in the 60's - and 70's. It gave the homosexual self-esteem in that they no longer had an illness stamp on it. And we hope that this change also will bring about, "says Lars-Erik Holm.

"It is very important for these individuals that society recognizes them as full citizens, "he said.

"We have fought long for this and so it is really super fun news, "said transvestites Sara Lund / Claes Schmidt called the Sara-Claes.

Sara-Claes red leather jacket, his hair and rings on the fingers of thoughts to a woman but basic votes and the coarse facial features show that in women's clothes are also a man. He, she or, as Sara-Claes himself says, hen, believe that the amended diagnostic system shows that society now has slowly begun to accept the transvestite.

The old classification relating to the many who believe that they are sick though they just dress in the other sex clothes.

Sara-Claes has been chairman of RFSL (National Association for homosexual, bisexual and transgender people's rights) in Malmo and devotes significant time to lecture.

- It is about disseminating knowledge. The actors in society must know that they can be helpful to us different thinkers, says hen and take his purse to go.

Welfare will now work for the same change to be made in the international diagnostic systems that are produced by WHO and on the basis of the Swedish system. Lars-Erik Holm thinking also contact their colleagues in the Nordic region.

"But I do not know how successful we will be. There are enormous differences of opinion on this in different countries, but it would be good if at least we in the Nordic countries have a consensus, "he said.

Other sexual behaviors such as transsexualism, exhibitionism, Voyeurism and pedophilia will remain as diagnoses. And they will not be removed at a later stage, according to Lars-Erik Holm.

"I do not think so. Transsexual needs to be left to carry out gender reassignment in health care and the other is a criminal act that harms others, "he said.