There is no article in the Belgian Constitution which explicitly prohibits discrimination on the grounds of gender, gender identity or sexual orientation, so the Constitution provided less protection for trans* people than in Germany or the Netherlands. However, the adaptation of the first name and the gender entry allowed by Belgian law may be regarded as progressive. Since 2017, applications for the change of the first name can be submitted solely on the basis of a self-declaration, and thus without surgical operation or medical opinion. Nevertheless, there is criticism that without presenting a medical opinion, the application is ten times more expensive and that only the binary genders can be registered. Since 2003, a law prohibits on national level the discrimination on the ground of gender, which was extended in 2013 to gender identity and gender expression, so that now trans* people are specifically taken into account.