Human Rights Watch recently reported that the Dutch in the Netherlands are violating the human rights of transgendered citizens. The article states that "the government should revise article 28 of the civil code, which requires transgender people to take hormones and undergo surgery to alter their bodies and be permanently and irreversibly sterilized" (HRW). This is obviously a gross infringement upon transgendered rights as citizens and humans. Several different groups have analyzed the affects that such requirements can have on children and adults dealing with these issues, such as confusion in the workplace and public due to their appearance versus their legal gender or the continuous humiliation and struggles created by it.
This could be found as a human rights issue in relation to freedom of expression, equality of rights without discrimination, and liberty and security of person. A person should be allowed to express themselves in any way they wish. If a person identifies as another gender then they should be allowed to express that side of them without worry of consequence. The article violates the equality of rights of any person because where a person of cis-gender can free be themselves without hinderance, this is not true of the transgendered community in the Netherlands. The same reasoning can be placed with the liberty and security of person. A person should be allowed to be themselves no matter what that entails. Forcing a medical procedure is not in any sense intrinsic to the identity of a person's gender.
I, personally, cannot even begin to understand the reason that this article has lasted so long. Though in its induction it was a sign of progress in the sense of transgendered rights. Now the Netherlands has fallen drastically behind most other developed countries in the world. It is as if there has been no further research or work in the area of understanding the lives and reasons for transgendered people. There have been leaps and bounds in the understanding of the transgendered mind and what can happen when such a person is put under stress like that which the outdated article could cause. The Dutch would be better to listen to the Human Rights Watch and begin the several times promised revision of the article in the very near future.
Do you see this a fair? Should a transgendered person have to go through a very invasive medical procedure to change their legal gender? Was this article really progressive in its inception? What are your thoughts?
This is a very well written post. The author touches on a subject that many people choose to ignore. The infringement of the rights of the gay, lesbian and transgendered community is a continuing problem all across the the globe.
ReplyDeleteHere in the United States this issue is a major problem. The alternative lifestyle community is continuing to be harassed and segregated. Although our nation is showing some signs of improvement through legalizing gay marriage in some states and eliminating prejudice within the United States military.
There is much talk and debate about gay rights. But, most people seldom talk about or understand the transgendered community. This post brings this issue to the forefront and leads to an insight into the restriction of freedoms that the transgendered community faces.
Thank you for writing about an issue that few people understand.
VERY interesting. Transgendered issues seem to be too easily blended into LGBT issues, when they deserve their own debate due to the very particular challenges faced by transgendered individuals. I am shocked both by the existence of the article and by it's continued presence in legal documents.
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