Ban unnecessary gender registration, says minister

 

Or none of the above..

More local councils should act to ban ‘unnecessary gender registration’, emancipation minister Ingrid van Engelshoven told parliament in a letter this week. 

‘A number of local councils, like Amsterdam and Utrecht, have already adapted their contact forms and where possible have removed questions where a specification of gender is irrelevant,’ the minister said.

The basic register for personal data BRP will be exempt because the information is ‘not unnecessary’ although the cabinet will explore different ways of addressing people in official local council communications.

The cabinet is also exploring the technical, legal and financial implications of changes to gender registration on id cards and passports but applications for gender neutral birth certificates and passports will not become a standard option in law for everyone, junior home minster Raymond Knops said in a reaction to MP’s questions.

In October last year a gender neutral birth certificate and passport were granted to Leonne Zeegers who doesn’t identify with either sex.

Van Engelshoven said new registration regulation will take time but that this is the moment to take steps. ‘Asking people to register their gender is to contribute to stereotypes and gender norms. Trans and intersex people who do not recognise themselves (fully) in the binary division between men and women experience this as a hindrance to their participation in society,’ the minister said.

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