A man in Switzerland changed her gender via a simple box-ticking exercise in order to avoid mandatory military service for males and to shine a light on the absurd liberal transgender laws introduced last year.
Lucas Bänteli filled out a form expressing her desire to become a female, paid a €77 administration fee, and attended a 10-minute meeting at the Civil Status Office before having her application approved.
She has not changed her name, nor her public appearance in any way, and insists she continues to live as before, only now she is legally classified as female and as such does not need to comply with the obligatory military service that applies to every Swiss man between the ages of 18 and 30.
“I wanted to push this new regulation to absurdity, but I didn’t want to join the army either,” he said.
Under Swiss law, any individual who has the “personal conviction” that they identify as the opposite gender can now apply for legal reassignment. They can apply to have their gender modified on the civil status register via an accelerated procedure, without the need for a medical examination or court order.
The law came into effect at the beginning of last year, and Bänteli hopes that his decision to challenge the rules will make “politicians think” about how sensibly they are moving forward.
The 23-year-old could meet legal opposition, however. The Federal Office of Justice commented on the story to the Matin Dimanche newspaper, calling her approach illegal.
“Declarations of sex reassignment that are abusive or made lightly have no legal effect and are punishable. In case of suspicion on this subject, the circumstances must be clarified ex officio and, if necessary, a correction procedure must be initiated,” the federal office said in a statement.
Bänteli, however, thinks she could win in court due to “the absurdity of this regulation”.
“If only personal feeling counts, how could anyone prove that I didn’t really feel like a woman at the time of the change?” she asked.
A similar loophole was used by another Swiss man earlier this year who opted to modify his gender in order to retire a year earlier and start receiving his pension.
Michel Montini of the Federal Office of Justice admitted back in November last year that there were flaws with the new transgender laws, insisting that “people could declare themselves as a woman just before retirement and leave a year earlier.
“A single man who declares himself a woman can, for example, receive an AVS pension from the age of 64,” Montini added.
It may be unconventional, but it would seem that with the law as it currently stands, there isn’t much anyone can do about it.
