The Netherlands makes it possible to change the sex recorded on a birth certificate

On 1 August 1985, a law came into force in the Netherlands allowing the sex recorded on a birth certificate to be changed. Until then, even after medical treatment, a person legally remained the sex assigned at birth.

What the law provided

The law of 24 April 1985 added a provision to the Dutch Civil Code. Anyone convinced that they belonged to the other sex could ask the court to amend their birth certificate. Their passport and other documents were then changed as well.

The requirements

The law imposed three requirements. The applicant had to be unmarried. Their body had to be adapted to the desired sex, insofar as this was medically and psychologically responsible. And the applicant had to be permanently unable to father or give birth to children. Experts had to confirm this in a statement.

Later changes

The requirement that applicants be unmarried was abolished in 2001, when marriage was opened to same-sex couples. The requirements for physical adaptation and infertility remained in place until 2014; see the 2014 Transgender Act.

The situation before 1985

Before 1985, someone who had undergone gender-affirming treatment could only try to have their birth certificate corrected. Courts usually rejected such requests: the certificate had been correctly drawn up at birth, and there had been no mistake. As a result, people had documents after their treatment that did not match the way they lived. At a job interview, at the border or at the town hall, they repeatedly had to explain their history. Marrying a partner of the other sex was not possible.

Consequences for marriage and parenthood

The change applied only to the future. Existing legal ties with children remained unchanged: anyone who was a father remained legally a father; see also the page on parenthood after transition. The requirement that applicants be unmarried was connected to the marriage law in force at the time. Without that requirement, the change would have resulted in a marriage between two people of the same sex, which was not yet recognised by law. Married applicants therefore had to divorce first. The infertility requirement was intended to prevent someone who was legally male from giving birth to a child, or someone who was legally female from fathering one.

The European context

In 1972, Sweden became the first country to introduce a legal framework. West Germany followed in 1980 and Italy in 1982. In 1986, the European Court of Human Rights still ruled that countries were not obliged to legally recognise a person’s new sex. This changed step by step: in 2002, in Goodwin v. the United Kingdom, the Court ruled that a country may not refuse such recognition. More information is available on the page about the case law of the European Court.

Significance

The law was enacted during the same period in which medical care in the Netherlands was taking shape; see the VU gender team. Legislators and medical professionals shared the same view: a small group of adults who, after a lengthy process, underwent complete physical adaptation. The law embedded that view in its requirements.

The Netherlands was among the first European countries to establish a legal framework. The law linked legal recognition to a medical process: no surgery, no new birth certificate. That link was later abandoned. The current procedure is explained on the pages about changing the registered sex and the Transgender Act.