It Seems I'm Not That Irrelevant After All

Last week the court approved my request to have my legal gender changed from male to female. As you probably gathered by now it's been approved, setting a major precedence in the process. It re-evaluates to a significant extent when a legal gender change is possible in the case of intersex individuals, as well as firmly establishing the existence of intersex and hermaphroditism in Dutch law. While the medical protocol denies that 'intersex' is the right term and advices surgery to 'correct' this 'disorder', legally 'intersex' is now the proper term and surgery is decidedly optional.

The fall-out of this decision has been one very happy personal injuries lawyer who got exactly what he needed and for me a very busy Sunday and Monday with one newspaper interview (Algemeen Dagblad), two radio interviews (VARA, Q-Music) and a TV interview, which can be watched (with English subtitles, check the 'cc' button) below. Today has been very quiet so far, with zero interviews, but I hope that now and with the impending formal complaint against the VUMC hospital in Amsterdam being filed later this week the point has been reached where the momentum will carry this issue onwards without any active effort from my side.

In all of this I must add that while I will admit to feeling 'happy' about it all, it is exceedingly difficult for me to accept that the 'survival' period is now over. Part of me fears that I'll soon be forgotten again and with it the intersex tragedy. Another part worries about me being financially still on the verge of bankruptcy. While I do feel a lot better about things already, there's still a long road ahead of me before I can sit back one day and realize that I really, truly made it.

Tantalizingly close is possibly worse than completely out of reach.

Maya