No gender recognition provisions: 0/10 | There are laws and provisions, but with legal/medical/psychological approval: 5/10 | There are laws for self-determination, but only for those over 16 years of age: 7,5/10 | There are laws on gender self-determination, including those under 16 years of age: 10/10
Belgian’s gender recognition legislation (2017) is based on self-determination. However, the law does not extend to minors under 16, who can only change their first name according to their gender identity from age 12 with assistance from their parents or a legal guardian.
On 19 June 2019, the Belgian Constitutional Court decided that non-binary and genderfluid persons were discriminated against by the current legislation. Both the principle of irreversibility of LGR (it is only possible to change one’s gender marker once using the current law) and the absence of non-binary gender markers were found to be unconstitutional. Following this ruling, the government agreed to remove gender markers from identity cards and wherever else they are unnecessary, but this project has since been abandoned. The federal parliament is yet to comply with the judgment and adopt an appropriate legal framework, which might include a third gender option.
Since 2023, it is possible to change one’s name or gender marker (M/F only) any number of times. Names no longer have to align with the person’s gender identity. However, no changes have been made to address the inability of gender-fluid and non-binary people to register their gender.
Under this bill, minors aged 16 or under will be able to request a change to their registered gender only after obtaining a certificate from a child psychiatrist. The psychiatrist must confirm that the minor “has sufficient discernment to have the lasting conviction that the sex mentioned in their birth certificate does not correspond to their experienced gender identity.” This condition continues to violate international human rights obligations, which condemn the psychiatrisation, medicalisation, and compulsory diagnosis of transgender people. Moreover, this measure also requires the consent of both parents, which can complicate the transition process in difficult family situations, especially when one parent opposes the transition or is absent.
There is no information regarding national policies allowing students to use their preferred name and gender in schools before having obtained legal gender recognition. However, as referred to above, at the community level and from September 2021, in the French-speaking Community, parents can now enroll their children in secondary school with a non-binary (“neutral”) gender marker. The change aims to reduce discrimination and will include measures to make bathrooms and changing rooms gender-neutral.
In 2023, the Belgian Parliament voted in favour of completely banning any practices aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression
LGBTQI associations in Belgium are calling for gender registration for all to be postponed until the age of 16, with the option at that point to choose from multiple self-determined gender categories (men, women, non-binary, intersex, gender-fluid, or other nominal groups). They also advocate for the removal of gender markers which are not strictly necessary.
