Search form

menu menu
  • Daily & Weekly newsletters
  • Buy & download The Bulletin
  • Comment on our articles

Six times as many people officially change sex on year before

19:58 21/01/2019

Last year 727 people changed their sex on their Belgian ID cards and thus in the official population register. This is more than six times the number of the year before, which was 110.

The reason for the massive increase is a change in the law that took effect on 1 January 2018. Since then, people can change their sex on their registry without having sex reassignment surgery. Previous to this, a medical certificate proving reassignment surgery was required.

“The general public always thinks that transgendered people are on a medical journey, but this proves that that is totally not the case,” said Guy T’Sjoen of Ghent University Hospital’s Gender Team. “Many people do not want this kind of medical intervention or want to wait awhile, but they still want to live their lives.”

While the number made a huge leap in 2018, it has in any case risen every year in recent years. In 2015, the number of people who changed their sex on their ID cards was 84, while in 2016, it was 100.

Photo: Jonas Hamers/BELGA

Written by Lisa Bradshaw

Comments

paradox

i want to change my species

Jan 23, 2019 16:50
Marc Slonik

@PARADOX

Have you tried campaigning for the case? It's easy to express demands on the Internets, but it is whole different story to get things done. The matter described in the article took a long way to arrive at point it is right now. And there is still a world to go.

Feb 8, 2019 16:11