Sweden Appoints First Transgender Minister... First Female Prime Minister Named

Sweden's First Female Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson

Sweden has appointed its first transgender minister.

On the 1st (local time), according to AFP and Bloomberg, Magdalena Andersson, the new Prime Minister of Sweden's ruling Social Democratic Party, announced the formation of the new government cabinet the day before and appointed Lina Axelsson Kilblom as the Minister for Schools.

Axelsson Kilblom, 51 years old this year, is a former principal and lawyer who was born male but transitioned in the 1990s.

In her 2015 autobiography, she revealed that she grew up as a girl in a boy's body and completed her physical transition to a female body at the age of 25.

As the Minister for Schools, she will be responsible for primary and secondary education. Higher education is separately managed by the Minister of Education.

Last year in Belgium, transgender Petra De Sutter was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister. Deputy Prime Minister De Sutter was recognized at the time as the highest-ranking transgender politician in Europe and the first transgender member of a cabinet.

The new cabinet of Prime Minister Andersson, Sweden's first female prime minister, consists of 12 women and 11 men, with women forming the majority.