Lisa van Ginneken

Summary

Lisa Mianti van Ginneken (pronounced [ˈlisaː van ˈɣɪnəkə(n)]; born 28 June 1972) is a Dutch politician of the social liberal party Democrats 66 (D66). She worked as a software developer and later gave organizational trainings. She started serving as chair of the organization Transvisie in 2017 and became a member of parliament after the 2021 general election. Van Ginneken is the first transgender person to be elected into the Dutch House of Representatives, where she is her party's spokesperson for IT, privacy, family law, and mobility.

Lisa van Ginneken
Van Ginneken in 2019
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
31 March 2021 – 5 December 2023
Personal details
Born (1972-06-28) June 28, 1972 (age 51)
Oosterhout, Netherlands
Political partyDemocrats 66
Children1
Residence(s)Amsterdam, Netherlands
Alma materWest-Brabant University of Applied Sciences
Websitewww.lisavanginneken.nl

Early life and career edit

Van Ginneken was born and raised in Oosterhout, North Brabant with her two older sisters, and her father was an electrician.[1][2][3] She attended its secondary school Mgr. Frencken College at havo level for seven years.[2] While a teenager, she developed games for the Commodore 64 to earn some extra money.[4] Between 1991 and 1995, she studied business informatics at the West-Brabant University of Applied Sciences.[5] Van Ginneken started her career as a software developer at TAS Groep and became a manager and consultant at Inter Access Cens in 1997. She subsequently worked for Verdonck Klooster & Associates as a senior consultant in the years 2000–2006. Van Ginneken founded her own business, Grip op ICT, in the latter year, working as a consultant, coach, and trainer. She owned another company, cnxy, where she served as an organizational change manager, coach, and trainer starting in 2014.[6]

In October 2017, Van Ginneken became chair of Transvisie, an advocacy group that represents the interests of transgender persons in the Netherlands, beside her job. She had served there as a coordinator since 2016 and had also been a board member for about half a year.[7][8] Van Ginneken also became a member of the advisory board of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights in October 2019.[9]

Politics edit

In the 2021 Dutch general election, she was elected into the House of Representatives. She was the 22nd candidate on D66's party list and received 10,969 preference votes.[10] Van Ginneken had decided to run for office because of comments by Thierry Baudet, the leader of the conservative and populist party Forum for Democracy, during the campaign for the 2019 provincial elections.[11] She campaigned on giving transgender and intersex people more say in their medical procedures and on limiting the power of technology corporations.[12]

Van Ginneken was sworn into the House on 31 March 2021 as the first transgender member in its history.[13] She simultaneously left Transvisie and the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights.[14] Van Ginneken was D66's spokesperson for ICT, digital government, intelligence agencies, privacy, family law, identity, roads, mobility, railways, and public transport. She is a member of the Committees for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality; for Digital Affairs; for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy; for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation; for Infrastructure and Water Management; for the Interior; and for Justice and Security as well as of the Benelux Parliament and the Building Advice Committee, which advises on the renovation of the Binnenhof.[6][15] In an interview, she argued for investing more in the European technology industry, calling the continent's technological dependency on the United States and China a threat to privacy protection.[11] She filed an amendment to the Transgender Act in late 2021, which would make it possible for non-binary persons to have an "X" in their government ID as their gender designation without the intervention of a judge.[16] The Council of State advised negatively on the amendment for legal reasons, and Van Ginneken subsequently drafted a bill instead.[17] She also defended a revised Transgender Act that was proposed by the fourth Rutte cabinet and that would remove the requirement for a statement by a psychologist or psychiatrist to change one's legal gender. Van Ginneken said that the barrier leaves the impression that transgender people are not able to make this decision by themselves and that its removal would aid in self-development. She discarded worries about men changing their gender to enter women's changing rooms, noting that passports are not checked at the door.[18]

She received the 2021 Pride Award in the category Well-known LGBTI+ Hero. The chair of the jury, Cornald Maas, called the fact that she is the House's first female transgender member "important and historic".[19] Van Ginneken announced in November 2022 that she would leave social media platform Twitter, as healthy debate was being undermined by hateful comments according to her.[20]

Personal life edit

Van Ginneken is divorced and has a son. She moved to Amsterdam shortly after her divorce and has lived there since.[21][1][6] Van Ginneken has also resided in Breda and Zoetermeer.[21] She is transgender, and her transition to a woman started in 2014. She underwent sex reassignment surgery in Thailand in June 2016.[22]

Van Ginneken is an actress and stage manager in amateur theater.[11]

Electoral history edit

Electoral history of Lisa van Ginneken
Year Body Party Pos. Votes Result Ref.
Party seats Individual
2021 House of Representatives Democrats 66 22 10,969 24 Won [23]
2023 House of Representatives Democrats 66 12 11,122 9 Lost [24]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Brouwer, Ricardo (30 March 2021). "Nieuw Tweede Kamerlid Lisa van Ginneken: 'De haatberichten werkten als brandstof voor mij'" [New MP Lisa van Ginneken: 'The hateful messages are fuel for me']. Gaykrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b Hochstenbach, Gerlach (27 June 2021). "Kamerlid Lisa van Ginneken: 'Dat ik transgender ben, geeft mensen niet het recht om me uit te schelden'" [MP Lisa van Ginneken: 'The fact that I am transgender does not give people the right to call me names']. BN DeStem (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Lisa van Gineken [sic]". De kist. Season 15. Episode 8 (in Dutch). 5 March 2023. EO. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  4. ^ Darroch, Gordon (19 July 2021). "Transgender equality, better data ethics are both human right issues: Lisa van Ginneken". DutchNews.nl. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Biografie, onderwijs en loopbaan van Lisa van Ginneken" [Biography, education, and career of Lisa van Ginneken]. Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  6. ^ a b c "Lisa van Ginneken". Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  7. ^ "L. (Lisa) van Ginneken". Parlement.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  8. ^ "Nevenfuncties leden Raad van Advies" [Other functions of advisory board members]. College voor de Rechten van de Mens (in Dutch). March 2021. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  9. ^ "Nieuwe leden benoemd voor de Raad van Advies College voor de Rechten van de Mens" [New members appointed to the advisory council of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights]. College voor de Rechten van de Mens (Press release) (in Dutch). 16 October 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Uitslag Tweede Kamerverkiezing 17 maart 2021" [Results general election 17 March 2021] (PDF). Kiesraad (in Dutch). 26 March 2021. p. 223. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  11. ^ a b c Van Ginneken, Lisa (8 September 2021). "'We moeten investeren in techsoevereiniteit'" ['We have to invest in technological sovereignty']. iBestuur (Interview) (in Dutch). Interviewed by Rineke van Houten. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  12. ^ "Lisa (D66) eerste transgender persoon in Kamer: 'Belangrijk en historisch'" [Lisa (D66) first transgender person in the House: 'Important and historic']. RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 18 March 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  13. ^ Keultjes, Hanneke; Kok, Laurens (27 March 2021). "Tweede Kamer is iets diverser geworden, met de nadruk op íets" [House of Representatives has become a little more diverse, with the emphasis on little]. Het Parool (in Dutch). Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  14. ^ "Nevenactiviteiten van Lisa van Ginneken" [Side activities of Lisa van Ginneken]. Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Lisa van Ginneken". D66 (in Dutch). Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  16. ^ Sedee, Menno (22 March 2022). "Nederlandse staat gedaagd om niet erkennen non-binaire genderidentiteit" [Dutch government sued for not recognizing non-binary gender identity]. NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  17. ^ "D66 komt met voorstel om, naast M en V, ook X in het paspoort toe te staan" [D66 comes with bill to allow X in passport besides M and V]. RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 4 June 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  18. ^ De Kam, Abel; De Jong, Carleen (27 September 2022). "Gedoe over vernieuwde transgenderwet. 'Niemand hoeft een paspoort te laten zien in de kleedkamer'" [Fuss about the revised Transgender Act. 'Nobody has to show a passport in the changing room']. Dagblad van het Noorden (in Dutch). Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  19. ^ "Pride Awards gaan naar Lisa van Ginneken en Mike Gerritsen" [Pride Awards go to Lisa van Ginneken and Mike Gerritsen]. NU.nl (in Dutch). 7 August 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  20. ^ Roach, April (17 November 2022). "First Dutch Transgender MP Quits Twitter After Hate Speech". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  21. ^ a b "Wie ben ik?" [Who am I?]. Lisa van Ginneken (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  22. ^ "Transgender Lisa: 'Ik ben aan het lonken naar sexualiteit'" [Transgender Lisa: 'I am looking for sexuality']. De Telegraaf (in Dutch). 10 March 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  23. ^ "Proces-verbaal verkiezingsuitslag Tweede Kamer 2021" [Report of the election results House of Representatives 2021] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 62–100, 188. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  24. ^ "Proces-verbaal van de uitslag van de verkiezing van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal 2023 d.d. 4 december 2023" [Report of the results of the election of the House of Representatives on 4 December 2023] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 4 December 2023. pp. 19–20. Retrieved 21 December 2023.

External links edit