Netherlands: Leonne Zeegers received their passport as intersexual

This nation granted one of the few passports that exist in the world with intersexual gender

Little by little, some countries have begun to incorporate intersex people IGNORE INTO their regulatory frameworks in documents such as the passport and the citizenship card. This is the case of Leonne Zeegers, one of the first people in the Netherlands to get a passport with intersexual gender.

Leer en español: Holanda: Leonne Zeegers recibió su pasaporte como intersexual

The story of Leonne Zeegers

In the 21st century there have been many cases of people who do not identify with the gender with which they were raised, but only a small percentage do not identify with any of the two genders, ie male and female.

The POUSTA portal reported that one of the people who do not feel identified with the two traditional genres is Leonne Zeegers. This European person was born in the Netherlands with male gender. However, as time passed, Zeegers did not feel comfortable with their physical appearance, so Zeegers underwent some operations to become a woman.

However, later, Zeegers was not comfortable with any of the sexes and declared themselves as neutral or neutral gender. As reported by Anna Holligan of the BBC, "about 4% of the Dutch do not feel identified with the male or female gender".

After identifying themselves as a neutral gender, Zeegers undertook a judicial battle to have their situation recognized both in the identification and in the passport. Months later, the authorities agreed with Leonne Zeegers in the request to respect their sexual orientation, as reported by the Russian newspaper Sputniknews.

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Of course, this specific case has caused a stir in Dutch society. The BBC reported on the unconditional support of LGTBI organizations for neutral sex and its application in documents such as the passport.

On the other hand, this case causes many to ask: What does it mean to be neutral gender?

The sex X

Contrary to what some people think, belonging to neutral or intersexual sex is not a whim of people who have been confused since childhood by their sexuality. As the Planned Parent Hood organization warned:

"We can define an intersexual as a person born with a combination of male and female biological characteristics, such as chromosomes or genitals, which may prevent doctors from assigning a sex that is distinctly male or female."

As this organization explains, there are people who can externally be born with male or female organs, but inside they have the opposite reproductive system.

It is clear that many people are determined as intersex at birth, and therefore opt for the change of one of the two sexes. However, there are cases such as Leonnes Zeegers, where the person, after changing to a sex, finally does not feel identified with any.

Will there be problems for Intersexuals?

The passport of intersex persons is marked in the gender box with an X, since this is the designation for this particular sex. However, this could lead to some problems at the international level. There are many orthodox countries that do not accept this type of sexual conditions, and there are other states that do not know how to handle these cases in their customs.

According to the BBC, the countries that have incorporated intersex people IGNORE INTO their legislation are: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, India, Malta, Nepal, New Zealand, and Pakistan.

LatinAmerican Post | Miguel Díaz
Translated from “Holanda: Leonne Zeegers recibió su pasaporte como intersexual”

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