It will soon be possible to change your gender and first name as many times as you want in Belgium. The Council of Ministers approved the first component of the transgender law’s reparations in order to respond to the remarks of the Constitutional Court. This had, in fact, canceled certain provisions of the transgender law of June 25, 2017.
In this first phase, the principle of irrevocability and the procedure before the family court is abolished, announces the Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne. Concretely, the irrevocability in principle will be abolished. This means that people can change their gender and first name multiple times. Similarly, family court proceedings will also be abolished. It will, therefore, always be possible to modify the registration of gender or first name with the civil registrar, following the same simple procedure as for the first modification. Later, the second phase of the reform will focus on the possibility of recognition for people with a non-binary identity.
The Constitutional Court considered that the absence of this possibility violates the principle of equality for those who cannot fall into the categories ” man ” or ” woman.” Furthermore, the court stated that “It is important that the rights of transgender people are respected and that they can change the registration of their sex according to their sexual identity, without unnecessary or finicky procedures.” They pointed out that the initial law proved insufficient in this area. We now want to remedy this situation with this bill so that transgender people are recognized for who they are “, according to the minister.
Original Article: https://rairfoundation.com/transgender-belgium-soon-it-will-be-possible-to-change-gender-and-first-names-as-often-as-you-want/
