A 69-year-old pensioner has launched a legal battle to have his age officially changed to 49 so that he can attract more women on the dating app Tinder.
Emile Ratelband, a self-help guru from the Netherlands, argues if transgender people are allowed to change sex, he should be allowed to change his date of birth because “doctors said he has the body of a 45-year-old”, says The Daily Telegraph.
Speaking to Dutch daily De Telegraaf, Ratelband argued: “We live in a time when you can change your name and change your gender. Why can’t I decide my own age?”
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The pensioner says he suffers discrimination because of his age, and is asking a court in the eastern city of Arnhem to officially change his birth date by 20 years.
“When I’m on Tinder and it says I’m 69, I don’t get an answer. When I’m 49, with the face I have, I will be in a luxurious position,” Ratelband says.
He has promised that if his age is lowered, he would renounce his pension if required.
Ratelband is a familiar figure in the Dutch media, with a varied public career that has seen him forming his own political party and voicing the character Vladimir Trunkov in the Dutch version of Pixar film Cars 2.
The court is expected to rule on the case within the next four weeks. However, experts insist there is currently no legal method of changing a birth date in Dutch law, says the BBC.
One of the judges on the case reportedly asked Ratelband: “Who were your parents looking after then? Who was that little boy?”
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