The husband of a Finnish MP responded to a new transgender self-ID law with sarcasm, noting he was now free to enjoy the women’s saunas.
Jukka Salmi, parliamentary assistant and husband of centre-right Christian Democrat MP Sari Tanus wrote on Facebook, with apparent sarcasm, that following the passage of the new transgender law, which allows people to change gender by simple request, he would be taking advantage of the law to hang out with naked women.
“Yesterday, I announced in the parliamentary elevator that I would change my gender as soon as possible and told them that after that I would spend a lot of my time in the women’s sauna in parliament,” he wrote, broadcaster Yle reports.
Salmi went on to claim another MP, who is part of the ruling coalition, took exception to his comments. But he fended off the criticism of his sarcasm by adopting the language of the pro-trans left, retorting: “She can’t tell about my sexual identity, and whether I’ve always wanted to be a woman… Besides, it does not even belong to her in any way. I think her actions offended me, questioning my identity and I felt unsafe in the elevator.”
Sari Tanus, meanwhile, commented on her husband’s writing, saying that she did not believe Salmi was meaning to offend transgender people, saying, “It wasn’t a joke, it was about pointing out grievances.”
Earlier this week the Finnish parliament passed the new transgender law by a vote of 113 to 69, marking Finland as just the latest European Union member state to pass such a law that will allow people to change their gender on identity documents by request and without the need for a doctor.
In December, Spain approved a similar transgender rights bill which allows anyone over the age of 16 to change their gender on identification by request. The law also banned so-called conversion therapy and promotes the inclusion of transgender women and others.
The law passed in the parliament despite an October poll revealing that two-thirds of the Spanish public was against the idea of minors being allowed to change their own gender by request.