The Dutch State Secretary for Legal Protection Teun Struycken announced the withdrawal of a transgender law proposal that would have simplified legal gender recognition for minors and adults in the Netherlands.
The law would have made it easier to change the gender on a birth certificate or passport, and it would no longer have been necessary to consult an expert.
The law also would have scrapped the minimum age of 16, and made it possible for children of any age to change their information in official documents via a court procedure.
A parliamentary majority forced the government to cancel the proposals, with MP Diederik van Dijk of the conservative Reformed Political Party saying: “We cannot burden vulnerable young people with the deception that your gender is a choice. They deserve real help.”
The move comes as many European countries make legal gender change easier.
Germany last year adopted the ‘self-determination act’ allowing anyone to legally change their name and gender with a simple application form. A similar bill was passed in Spain a year earlier, enabling adults as well as 16 and 17-year-olds to legally change their gender via a routine legal submission. Children as young as twelve can also do so with judicial authorisation.
The Spanish parliament recently approved moving forward with a controversial reform of the Penal Code, which imposes prison sentences of up to two years on those who oppose gender transition treatments for minors.
