Even before Donald Trump announced he was putting a stop to policies favouring transgender people, other countries had already toughened legislation on trans identities.
The US president said the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday that gender transition operations would happen “very rarely” in the United States from now on.
Days earlier during his inauguration, he promised to turn his back on policies in favour of transgender people.
He said the United States would only recognize two sexes, male and female, defined at birth, and would get rid of the “X” option on official documents for those who consider themselves non-binary.
Limits on treatment for minors in developed countries
Several countries which authorized hormone treatment for minors who do not accept their birth gender have stepped back as a precaution.
In Sweden, the authorities decided in 2022 to end hormone therapy for minors, except in very rare cases, pointing to the necessity to be cautious.
A similar decision was taken in Finland in 2020.
In the UK, prescriptions for puberty blockers were banned in 2024 for minors, after the publication of a report calling for caution due to lack of reliable data.
In Canada, the Alberta government in 2024 banned sex change surgery as well as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for young people under 15.
Half of US states prohibit hormone treatment for minors. The conservative-leaning Supreme Court is to rule by June 2025 on the access to minors to treatments to change their gender.
Gender change banned in Georgia
A law adopted in Georgia in Oct. 2024 bans gender re-assignment, as well as adoptions by gay and transgender people.
Sex changes outlawed in Iraq
A law, which came into force in June 2024, makes “biological sex change based on personal desire and inclination” a crime, and punishes transgender people who undergo and doctors who perform gender-affirming surgery with up to three years in prison.
Total ban in Russia
Russia in July 2023 adopted a law which totally banned medical sex change operations and registrations of a change without medical intervention.
The Russian authorities have also intensified the promotion of a policy of preservation of so-called traditional values, banning in 2024 the adoption of Russian children by countries which allow gender transition.
They have banned the promotion of life without children and put “the international LGBT movement” on its list of terrorist and extremist organizations.
Transgender laws in Pakistan
Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court, which decides if laws are in conformity with Islam, in May 2023 annulled several measures from a 2018 law which gave legal status to the transgender community.
It annulled the provisions on the definition of transgender people and their ability to get public official documents in conformity with their identity.
No civil registration in Hungary
Hungary in 2020 banned the official registration of sex change and the legal recognition of the gender identities of transgender people.
According to a 2021 law, which was disputed by the Commission and several European countries at the European Court of Justice, it is also no longer possible to talk about gender reassignment and LGBTQ issues to minors.
Argentina, a pioneer, but …
In Argentina, the 2012 law which authorized gender change in civil documents on a simple demand remains in place, as well as the 2021 law which offers an X option on identity documents.
But the arrival of libertarian Javier Milei as president in late 2024 could end up overturning these laws.
In late 2024, according to media reports, the government was weighing the elimination by decree of the two laws.
On a global scale
According to the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), more than 60 UN members allow trans people to change their gender on official identity documents.
Around 20 countries allow a modification of civil status by a simple declaration, according to the organization, which is an authority on the subject.
In other countries, these changes require lengthy procedures and the following of hormonal treatment, sex change surgery or sterilization.
