Gay Norwegian filmmaker faces three years in prison after saying male-to-female transgender women cannot be lesbians

A gay Norwegian film producer faces three years in prison after saying male-to-female transgender women cannot be lesbians.

Tonje Gjevjon spoke out against the transgender activist Christine Jentoft who is going from a man to a “lesbian mother”.

“It is just as impossible for men to become lesbians as it is for men to get pregnant,” Gjevjon wrote on Facebook in October. “Men are men, regardless of their sexual fetish.”

Gjevjon is currently under police investigation and faces up to three years in prison for her public statements after the Norwegian parliament banned hate speech against transgender people in 2020.

“It is just as impossible for men to become lesbians as it is for men to get pregnant,” Gjevjon wrote on Facebook in October. “Men are men, regardless of their sexual fetish”

Two years ago, Norway expanded its penal code, which has protected gays and lesbians since 1981, to include transgender people.

Gjevjon, who is also an artist, told Reduxx that her Facebook post was created to draw attention to the changed law against hate speech in Norway, adding that trans activists have tried to close their art exhibitions because of their views .

In an essay in the Norwegian newspaper Klassekampen, she wrote: “I found that women are feminine, that lesbians do not have penises, that children should not be responsible for decisions whose implications they cannot understand, and that non-platforming is detrimental to democratization.

“I have been canceled several times because of this advice.”

Gjevjon said she was “demonized” by trans activists and politicians because of her views.

She wrote in the paper: “I was not prepared for the way queer organizations, politicians and activists would demonize a lesbian artist who stepped out of line.

“Trans activists are reaching out to people I work with, portraying me as hateful and warning not to be associated with me.”

Gjevjon (pictured) is currently under police investigation and faces up to three years in prison for her public statements after the Norwegian parliament banned hate speech against transgender people in 2020

Norway’s parliament wants to ban hate speech against transgender people by 2020.

Under the Penal Code, individuals found guilty of hate speech can be fined or imprisoned for up to one year for private speech and up to three years in prison for public speech.

Norway is one of the most liberal countries in Europe for LGBT+ people and since 2016 has allowed transgender people to legally change their gender without a medical diagnosis.

Transgender people are “an exposed group when it comes to discrimination, harassment and violence,” Justice and Public Safety Minister Monica Maeland said after the law was passed in 2020.

“Protection against discrimination under criminal law must be adapted to the specific situation,” she said.

The 2020 amendments banned discrimination based on “gender identity or sex expression” and changed “gay orientation” to “sexual orientation”, meaning that bisexuals and lesbians and gay men are specifically protected from discrimination.

Under the Criminal Code, people charged with violent crimes can receive harsher sentences if a judge decides that their actions were motivated by a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Opponents of the law argued that criticizing LGBT+ rights could criminalize freedom of expression, said Anine Kierulf, then an assistant professor of law at the University of Oslo.