Plan to give transsexuals legal recognition (Brussels)

expatica.com ^

[chance33_98]

Plan to give transsexuals legal recognition

According to a study produced by Ghent university around 1 in 16,000 men believe they are really women and 1 in 40,000 women feel they should have been born as men.

10 February 2004

BRUSSELS – The law in Belgium could soon recognise the new identities of people who have undergone a sex-change operation.

If plans put forward on Monday by four Belgian parliamentarians become law, then a person will be able to change their name and alter the description of their sex on their national identity card and other official documents.

At present transsexual people can sometimes have their new identity recognised officially. But all demands must go through the courts and judges must rule on a case-by-case basis, which critics say makes the process somewhat arbitrary.

Under the planned new rules changing the mention of a person’s sex on official documents would be an administrative process would not require court appearances.

“Transsexuals are not criminals,” argued Flemish Liberal Democrat (VLD) Hilde Vautmans, one of the parliamentarians behind the initiative.

According to a study produced by Ghent university around 1 in 16,000 men believe they are really women and 1 in 40,000 women feel they should have been born as men.

[ZULU]

How about metasexuals??

Then Dean could move there and run for Prime Minister when he loses the Democratic Primary.

[3catsanadog]

Europe is just tripping over itself to court favor with the alternative lifestyle crowd.

[trebb]

How about the old chromosone litmus test -

XY = Man

XX = Woman

[zx2dragon]

How about someone who is 47, XXY? Deny all legal rights because the person was born outside of your box?

[trebb]

Sounds like Klinefelter's Syndrome to me (but, I'm no expert here). Exactly what extra "legal recognition" do you figure we need to implement? Even though anywhere from 1 in 500 to 1 in 1000 males are born with it, a very small percentage ever have any symptoms to cause discovery. I can understand that those who do suffer expressed abnormalities would have reason to feel distress, but I still fail to see where extra legalities are necessary.

[Dante3]

There is no such thing as a sex-change operation if one is clearly a male or a female.

And what about all those people who get plastic surgery to look younger, who have a young mind in an old body? Can they then change their age?

[Salman]

Hmmm. This is not quite the same issue as the "gay" thing. The "gays" are normal according to the official medical community.

Whereas "gender dysphoria", which is the condition of hating being your gender, is as it should be recognized as a serious pathology. Sufferers often self-multilate or commit suicide. It's no joke, and it's not a position anyone takes for the fun of being shockingly perverse.

That said, one may disagree with the whole business of "gender reassignment" surgery as a solution. But this is something that cannot be normalized or mainstreamed.

[zx2dragon]

Right on. I don't think there should be extra legalities anywhere. I don't care for govt intrusion, but that's preaching to the choir here.

I was just pointing out that there's more to it than just XX and XY. To try and have legislation or any kind of "litmus test" to define gender could lead to more problems, IMHO.

To stay on topic (which I should have added in the first post), I really don't care what Brussels decides. State side, it's something that is left to the states or to the people since it is not defined as a federal area of concern via the Constitution.

[trebb]

Thanks - just goes to show that some of us (me perhaps) can stick their foot in their mouth (via an uninformed statement) without actually trying to be mean and others (you in this case) can be gracious enough to not go ballistic.

Have a good day.

[zx2dragon]

You're welcome. Cyber shouting and carrying on doesn't do any good (IMHO) so I just try to do what I can.