Emile Ratelband is following a sad tradition of men pulling presposterous stunts to undermine the LGBT community. He should not be humoured
Last week, Stonewall published a report that found that more than one in 10 trans people have attempted to take their own lives in the past year, and nearly half of all trans people have considered it. This indicates a mental health crisis that is at epidemic levels within the trans community, so I’d say it’s a good thing that many countries have decided to take small measures to make it a little easier for trans people to be true to their gender identities.
And yet, as the stage invasion during Britain’s performance at this year’s Eurovision demonstrates: when something nice happens, there’s always some bore determined to ruin it. In May, the bore in question was David Lewis – a man who claimed to be “a woman on Wednesdays”, and who tried to become a Labour women’s officer to object to the party’s trans-inclusive policies. This month, that role of bore has been taken up by one Emile Ratelband, a Dutch man who has petitioned the courts to allow him to identify as 20 years younger than his age of 69, on the grounds – among other things – that it would yield him more matches on Tinder. Ratelband told the Washington Post: “We can make our own decisions if we want to change our name, or if we want to change our gender. So I want to change my age.” Suggesting that gender is a matter of choice.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2DCYLmN
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