Dutch Court Ruling, 'It is Time To Recognize a Third Gender'
A Dutch citizen on Monday won the right for the first time to be allowed to register as neither a man nor a woman, with judges urging lawmakers to recognize a "third gender".
The Limburg District Court in Roermond ruled that the unnamed plaintiff can now be recorded in the Dutch birth register as "gender undetermined" as opposed to male or female.
"At birth in 1961, this person's gender could not be determined and the parents decided to register the person as male, to make things easier at the time," the court said in a statement. In 2001 however, the plaintiff underwent medical treatment and changed gender to female.
"Eventually it also turned out that the female gender did not fit the person, whose personality is experienced as gender-neutral," the court said, "feeling neither like a man nor a woman."
The plaintiff then asked authorities to include a third, gender-neutral entry in the birth register.
A similar request by a different person was turned down in 2007 by the Netherlands' highest court, the High Council.
But due to "social and legal developments, the time is ripe for the recognition of a third gender," the judges said.
"To enable the registration of a third gender 'X', a legal amendment is crucial. It's now up to the lawmakers," they added. Meanwhile "the court rules in favor of changing the person's gender in the birth register to 'gender could not be determined'," the judges said.
Activists hailed the ruling, saying it was another step towards recognizing the rights of the Dutch transgender population, estimated to be between 0.2 to 2.0 percent of the country's 17 million people.
Current Transgender Issues:
Transgender
‘Transgender’ is the umbrella term for people who identify with a different gender from the one they were assigned at birth – often diagnosed as ‘gender dysphoria’. The term ‘transsexual’ refers more specifically to someone who has had medical intervention and is considered archaic.
Public awareness
The number of people being diagnosed with gender dysphoria is on the rise, as public awareness increases. When Caitlyn Jenner appeared on the July 2015 cover of Vanity Fair – her first photo shoot since coming out as a trans woman – Google searches of the word ‘transgender’ reached an all-time high worldwide.
Surgery and hormones
In the UK and most countries around the world, children need to wait until they are adults before they can undergo gender reassignment surgery, but they can be prescribed synthetic hormones to suppress puberty. The effects are fully reversible, so treatment can be stopped at any time.
Age limits
There is no specific age when puberty-suppressing drugs can be prescribed: it depends when a child goes through puberty. The US state of Oregon recently made it legal for 15-year-olds to undergo gender reassignment surgery; most countries that do allow such surgery (including the UK) require the patient to be 18 or older.
Military service
Under President Obama, legislation was introduced to allow transgender soldiers to openly serve in the military. His successor, Donald Trump has announced plans to rescind that policy. All branches of Britain’s armed forces welcome transgender recruits.
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