March against hate after the terrorist attack on Zámocká Street. (source: TASR)
The Health Ministry will scrap expert guidelines regarding gender transition at the request of the Slovak National Party (SNS) party "in the interest of the stability of the government coalition", Health Minister Zuzana Dolinková (Hlas) said on Tuesday.
The SNS party reportedly would not vote for the government programme in parliament and not suport a vote of confidence if the guidelines were not abolished.
Before his departure in March, ex-minister Vladimír Lengvarský signed expert guidance on unifying medical procedures to issue a medical opinion on gender transition. It had been approved by a 20-member expert committee a month before. Still, conservative MPs criticised Lengvarský for the move.
The regulation ensured a more dignified process of medical transition and healthcare for transgender people and made it possible for transgender people to change their birth number, name and surname without undergoing surgery.
The previous regulation was adopted in 1981 and referred to no longer valid laws. This has made the life of transgender people and the work of doctors complicated for a long time.
The new guidelines were among the demands of LGBT+ initiatives in the wake of the murders of two queer people, Juraj Vankulič and Matúš Horváth, in a terror attack on an LGBT+ bar on Zámocká Street in Bratislava in autumn 2022.
In a press release Dolinková said "this issue will be dealt with comprehensively and professionally by the Health Ministry within during the adoption of the new international classification of diseases". No further details were provided.
SNS has opposed the guidelines for a long time. In October, Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba (SNS) made it clear the party wanted to scrap them.
Earlier this year, a group of conservative MPs submitted an amendment that would make it impossible for transgender people to undergo a legal transition and have their birth number changed in identification documents as it can indicate their sex.
At the time, Hlas chair Peter Pellegrini said the party would not back such a move, but conservative MPs are looking for a way to bring the amendment back.
