No gender recognition provisions: 0/10 | There are laws and provisions, but with legal/medical/psychological approval: 5/10 | There are laws for self-determination, but only for those over 16 years of age: 7,5/10 | There are laws on gender self-determination, including those under 16 years of age: 10/10
In 2019, the Icelandic parliament adopted the Gender Autonomy Act, which introduced legal gender recognition on the basis of self-determination and made available the gender marker option ‘X’ beyond ‘male’ and ‘female’. Since January 2021, non-binary people have been able to access the gender marker ‘X’ option.
In late 2020, the parliament also approved the reduction of the age limit for LGR, based on self-determination, from 18 to 15. Minors under 15 will need parental consent and if such parental consent is absent, then they will be supported by an expert committee in their decision-making.
Legal recognition for non-binary people became available in 2021. This change took place to ensure that the law complied with the Gender Autonomy Act and to ensure that everyone was represented, in accordance with the law.
A new bill was tabled in parliament in 2023, which would allow people to choose -dóttir, -son or the gender-neutral -bur as endings to their family name, regardless of legal gender, and on the basis of self determination. The law was approved in 2019, with the addition that it is as well legal for those with neutral gender marker to have their name end without the -bur, i.e. Andradóttir, Andrason, Andrabur or Andra.
The new LGR law has been welcomed by many, but also criticised for failing to automatically ban all non-consensual medical interventions against intersex minors. In late 2020, a standalone law was passed to protect intersex children, setting out that non-consensual and medically unnecessary surgeries against minors will have to be unanimously approved by a multidisciplinary committee of medical experts and confirmed by a ministerial committee of a child psychologist, a pediatrician, and a human rights expert. The law however did not ban all interventions, such as hypospadias and micropenis.
In 2023, a law against all conversion practices, including on the grounds of gender identity and gender expression, was approved in parliament and became active on the 1st of January 2024.
There are no national guidelines on how schools can support trans youth, but some schools have been proactive in removing gendered spaces or rules about gendered uniforms.
