Support uncertain for law to make gender change easier to register

The Tweede Kamer will discuss a bill on Tuesday evening and Wednesday that will make it easier for transgender people to change their gender registration at the registry office, among other things. They will no longer have to submit a statement from an expert. But whether the new Transgender Act, submitted by the previous (outgoing) Cabinet, will receive enough political support remains unclear.

Not even the coalition parties are on the same page, with ChristenUnie dropping its support for the bill. The VVD and CDA have not yet decided whether to support the bill and will meet on Tuesday. The VVD sees some legal snags in the amendment of the law. The CDA wants to discuss these snags and the “ethical” side.

The D66 supports the bill and would prefer that not only an M (man) be changed to a V (woman) and vice versa, but also that X can be accepted as a gender indication. This concerns non-binary people who do not identify as male or female, an estimated 4 percent of the population. The D66 is preparing a private member’s bill to this end.

Based on the registration in the civil registry, a person’s gender is stated on official documents, such as passports.

It has been possible to change the gender registration on a birth certificate since 1985, but until 2014 people had to first undergo a physical transition and sterilization. The government apologized for these practices at the end of 2020. In recent years, several hundred people have had their gender registration officially changed every year.