Norwegian filmmaker faces imprisonment after statements about pregnancy

On November 17, she was informed of the investigation against her after speaking out against prominent Norwegian LGBTQ activist Christine Jentoft on Facebook. Jentoft is a transgender man who describes himself as a lesbian mother. Jentoft had previously accused another woman, Christina Ellingsen, of a similar expression of “transphobia.” Ellingsen is also being investigated, and she too faces up to three years in prison if she is convicted.

The post on Gjevjon’s Facebook page under investigation read: “Becoming a lesbian is as impossible for men as it is impossible for men to get pregnant. Men are men regardless of their sexual fetish.”

Gjevjon stressed that she deliberately took down her Facebook post to draw attention to Norway’s anti-hate speech laws.

Gjevjon’s comments appear to be under investigation because they fall under a 2020 amendment to the Norwegian Criminal Code that put “gender identity and gender expression” under the categories specifically protected against “hate speech”. Anyone found guilty of hate speech faces a fine or up to one year in prison for private speech and a maximum of three years for public speech.

This isn’t the first time filmmaker Gjevjon has spoken out on controversial issues surrounding gender and women’s rights. Last year she confronted Norway’s Minister for Culture and Reality [sic], Anette Trettebergstuen, with claims that confusing gender identity with biological sex has “harmful” and “discriminatory” effects on women, particularly lesbians.

Gjevjon had asked Trettebergstuen, a Labour Party MP, how she would protect the rights of women and girls. She also inquired whether men could be lesbians. “I believe it is absolutely necessary to place biological sex as the basis in all contexts where sex has legal, cultural, or practical relevance, and that equating sex with gender identity has harmful, discriminatory consequences for women and girls – especially lesbians,” Gjevjon said in her question.

She added, “will the Equality Minister take action to ensure that lesbian women’s human rights are safeguarded, by making it clear that there are no lesbians with penises, that males cannot be lesbians regardless of their gender identity, and by tidying up the mess of the harmful gender policies left behind by the previous government?”

“I do not share a notion of reality in which the only two biological sexes are to be understood as sex,” Trettebergstuen responded, “Gender identity is also crucial.” The Norwegian website Gaysir has named Trettebergstuen Norway’s “second most powerful lesbian”.

Norwegian reports mentioned that Gjevjon was being forced out of the public sphere because of her opinions, despite the fact that she had been a prominent part of the music and art establishment for almost 15 years.

As of November 2022, gender self-identification, where no judge or medical expert are involved, is part of the law in 18 countries: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Switzerland and Uruguay.