HOSI Wien responds with shock to recent statements by Family Minister Claudia Plakolm in an interview in which she floated the idea of a minimum age of 25 years for gender-affirming measures.
“It is appalling with what cold-bloodedness Ms. Plakolm speaks about the fundamental rights of transgender people. Gender-affirming measures are not a matter of ideological opinion, but a medical decision made by specialist doctors together with those affected, based on careful diagnostics, multiple expert opinions, and support. This does not happen on a whim, as Ms. Plakolm seems to believe. If the Family Minister thinks that a transition is not comparable to a tattoo, she is right. However, not in the way she thinks: for many transgender people, the level of suffering without treatment is so high that it literally becomes a question of survival again and again. To stir up sentiment on such serious issues with half-truths may be customary in the Trump administration, but it is unworthy of a minister in Austria,” says Ann-Sophie Otte, Chairwoman of HOSI Wien.
HOSI Wien also points out that an age limit of 25 years would constitute a massive interference with the right to self-determination and medical care for trans people, contrary to all international standards, recommendations, and legal frameworks, such as those of the WHO or the European Convention on Human Rights.
“Incidentally, Plakolm herself entered the National Council for the first time at the age of 22 and took part in decisions on laws affecting nine million people. Now she denies adult people the ability to make self-determined decisions about their own bodies and identities, while she herself was trusted at that age to vote, sign contracts, or raise children. That is not only contradictory but deeply revealing,” Otte emphasizes.
“Ms. Plakolm should ask herself whether she wants to deny maturity to all young people in Austria or whether this intellectual disenfranchisement applies exclusively to transgender people. Such an attitude is not only discriminatory but dangerous,” Otte concludes.
HOSI Wien calls on the federal government to clearly distance itself from these statements and finally take responsibility for protecting and upholding the rights of young trans people instead of making them a pawn in ideological debates.
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