14-year-old YouTube star wins ‘Transgender of the Year’ award
(YouTube/
A 14-year-old YouTuber had been awarded the ‘Transgender of the year’ award at Sweden’s televised LGBT awards.
Trans teen Viktoria Harrysson was given the award at Sweden’s QX Gay Gala for the content she has produced on her YouTube Channel.
(YouTube/
Viktoria Harrysson)
With over 55,000 subscribers, Harrysson’s channel focuses on gender identity issues, makeup and travel vlogs.
Permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius, presented Harrysson with the prize.
According to The Local, in an emotional speech, she thanked her parents in the audience for supporting her.
However, she was convinced that she would not win, and so she did not prepare an acceptance speech.
Sweden Pride parade
She explained: “I have always known that I will not win, so I tried not to get too upset for the nomination.
“This is such a big thing. I feel like a sweaty potato, but I am so happy.”
Harrysson came to understand her gender identity at 10-years-old and has been making videos on the subject for over a year.
She has faced a lot of criticism as she grows online.
Sweden Pride parade
QX is the largest LGBT media publisher in Scandinavia.
Since 1998, the QX Gay Gala has celebrated individuals from Sweden’s gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Other awards given out included: Hetero of the Year, Homo of the Year and Kiss of the Year.
Actress Helena Bergström paid tribute to late actor Rikard Wolff who died last year and TV producer Christer Björkman, who won a prize for his Generalen.
(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
She added a note of caution: “We must keep reminding ourselves, our families, friends and the media that all these steps forward can easily be reversed. We can never allow that to happen.”
Sweden has taken many initiatives to improve the lives of its trans population in the last year.
Last November, the country’s government completed a report on how to improve the lives of trans people.
One of the proposals was to recognise a third gender and allow gender-neutral passports.
Earlier in 2017, the National Board of Health and Welfare announced it will stop classifying transgender people as ‘mentally ill’.
