D66 MP presents bill for X gender marker in passports

D66 Member of Parliament Lisa van Ginneken is presenting an initiative law to arrange for people to get an X in their passport and other official documents if they do not want to be referred to as male or female. This is currently only possible after court intervention.

Van Ginneken is following advice issued by the Council of State about an amendment proposal that she wished to submit to a new Transgender Act. According to the council, such an amendment is not the right way to implement this gender-neutral registration.

The change has many consequences for other laws and regulations and their implementation, the Council of State said in an advisory report that was made public on Friday. For example, municipalities say that it costs quite a bit to implement the adjustments in regulations and systems. However, the Council found that the objections are "not an insurmountable obstacle" to the introduction of an X gender marker.

The D66 politician said on Instagram that she is therefore withdrawing her amendment and is working on her own initiative law. "Because if I wanted to go through with my amendment, it would slow down the whole law considerably," she says. "The new Transgender Act (without X unfortunately) can therefore come into effect faster and that is good news."

Interest groups such as COC and TNN believe that non-binary and other gender diverse people have been waiting too long for an appropriate registration. They are happy with Van Ginneken's initiative.

"About 4 percent of the Dutch identify as neither man nor woman," they said in a statement. "This group experiences a lack of recognition and uncomfortable situations in daily life because official gender registration is only possible with an M or V."