At a ministerial meeting among members of the Federal Government on Friday, the Minister for the Middle Classes David Clarinval (MR) blocked a bill which would have seen the M/F gender removed from Belgian identity cards. Clarinval, in accordance with his party's stance on the matter, would rather see a new 'X' box added to allow people to self-identify.
The French-speaking liberal party MR, through their Minister David Clarinval, are blocking a government bill which would see M/F, in reference to citizens' gender, dropped on Belgian identity cards.
The bill had been put forward by the Interior and Justice Ministers Annelies Verlinden and Vincent Van Quickenborne, as well as the State Secretary for Equality Sarah Schlitz.
Their aim is for gender-fluid and non-binary people to no longer be administratively assigned to a gender with which they do not identify.
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However, this proposal has been blocked by the Minister for the Middle Classes and MR's Vice-Prime Minister David Clarinval who, with the backing of his party, would rather see a new box with X added alongside the M/F letters onto identity cards, which would allow these individuals to self-identify.
The matter will now be discussed on Friday during the Federal Government's final ministerial meeting before the end of the year.
Furthermore, another proposition to remove any reference to gender on the identity card had been rejected by the Interior Minister, due to the 'unfeasibility' of producing new cards for every Belgian resident.
