The Morning Call (Sunday)

How old? Dutchman, 69, seeks to change age to 49

TV personalit­y cites bias in asking court to approve request

- By Mike Corder

UTRECHT, Netherland­s — Self-styled positivity guru Emile Ratelband thinks age is just a number. And his is a number the Dutchman wants changed.

The 69-year-old TV personalit­y has asked a court in the Netherland­s to approve his request for a new birthday that officially would make him 49.

Ratelband says his legal appeal is consistent with other forms of personal transforma­tion that are gaining acceptance and government recognitio­n in the Netherland­s and around the world.

“With this free(dom) of choice, choice of name, freeness of gender, I want to have my own age. I want to control myself,” he said last week.

Ratelband says he wants to avoid age discrimina­tion in society — especially on dating websites.

“So when I ask for a mortgage, for example, they say it’s impossible,” he said. “If I go on Tinder, then I get women from 68, 69 when women are there.”

How about just being economical with the truth about his age?

“I don’t want to lie,” he said. “I want to be myself, so don’t force me to lie.”

Marjolein van den Brink, who specialize­s in human rights and gender issues at Utrecht University’s law school, said age discrimina­tion is a problem but is different than the issues involved in reassignin­g gender.

“It’s quite clear that elderly people have a much smaller chance of getting a job than younger people,” she said. “But that’s just one element and it’s only something that happens to you once you reach the age of 40, 45, 50, depending a bit on your job.

“Whereas gender is something that follows you from birth to grave, and it determines nearly everything — and not just in the labor market but everywhere,” she said.

In rare cases, even race has also become more fluid.

In Britain, theater director Anthony Ekundayo Lennon has attracted attention in part because, despite being the son of white Irish parents, he looks like a mixed-race man. He has also written and told journalist­s that he thinks of himself as black.

He says he was racially abused as a teenager because of his appearance, and when he started an acting career, he found it easier to pursue non-white parts. He also took an African middle name.

Now some black artists are complainin­g because Lennon was recently given a paid traineeshi­p in a program designed to give more black people a chance for careers in the arts.

His case resembles in some ways that of Rachel Dolezal, a white woman in Spokane, Wash., who identified herself as black after she was raised by religious parents who had adopted four black children. She was working for the NAACP when her ruse was uncovered in 2015.

Ratelband said the Dutch government could benefit if it were to accept his age demand. He said he’d be happy to forfeit his monthly pension of around $1,370 — a concession he estimates would save nearly $343,000 over the 20 years he wants shaved off his age.

The court in Arnhem is expected to issue a ruling in about four weeks.

 ?? PETER DEJONG/AP ?? Emile Ratelband, 69, answers questions Thursday in Utrecht, Netherland­s. He is expected to find out in a month whether a court will allow him to change his age to 49.
PETER DEJONG/AP Emile Ratelband, 69, answers questions Thursday in Utrecht, Netherland­s. He is expected to find out in a month whether a court will allow him to change his age to 49.

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