Third gender law (Germany)

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Third gender law
German Bundestag
  • Act amending the information to be entered in the register of births
    (German: Gesetz zur Änderung der in das Geburtenregister einzutragenden Angaben)
Citation Gesetz zur Änderung der in das Geburtenregister einzutragenden Angaben
Territorial extent Germany
Passed by German Bundestag
Passed13 December 2018
Passed by German Bundesrat
Passed14 December 2018
Signed by President Frank Walter Steinmeier
Signed18 December 2018
Commenced22 December 2018
(5 years ago)
Legislative history
First chamber: German Bundestag
Introduced1 October 2018
First reading 11 October 2018
Second reading 13 December 2018
Third reading 13 December 2018
Second chamber: German Bundesrat
Received from the German Bundestag 14 December 2018
Passed14 December 2018
Summary
German federal law on the enabling of a third positive gender entry
Status: In force
A German passport with the sex marker 'X' for Unspecified. Reisepass X.jpg
A German passport with the sex marker 'X' for Unspecified.

Germany'sthird gender law introduced the gender "diverse" (German : divers) as a third positive option in alternative to "female", "male" or without an entry in the German civil status register. [1]

Contents

The law, codified in § 45b and § 22 PStG (German : Personenstandsgesetz), laid down an administrative procedure for assigning a diverse gender. It required a doctor's note confirming "a variant of sex development". The diverse gender can be assigned to people listed in the register, at birth or later in life. When individuals change their legal gender later in life, they can also change their first name. [2]

The administrative process was officially aimed at intersex people, but nonbinary people (who were not intersex) have also tried to use it, due to its manageable burden compared to the gender entry change procedure for trans people at that time (Transsexuals Act). However, the Federal Court of Justice ruled on 22 April 2020 that § 45b could not be used by a nonbinary person who was not intersex. [3]

The third gender law took effect on 22 December 2018. A bill to ease the process for transgender, intersex and non-binary non-intersex people, the Self-Determination Act, was passed on April 12, 2024, and took effect in November 2024. It completely revised § 45b PStG and standardised the regulations for trans, inter and non-binary people in a single law. [4]

Legislative history

2018-11-29 Besuch BM Horst Seehofer bei MP Reiner Haseloff in Magdeburg 1919.jpg
Horst Seehofer in 2018
Katarina Barley-2.jpg
Katarina Barley in 2018
MJK 19252 Franziska Giffey (SPD-Bundesparteitag 2018).jpg
Franziska Giffey in 2018

Germany established a third positive gender option because, on 10 October 2017, the Federal Constitutional Court's ruled that it was constitutionally necessary. The court decided that it was unconstitutional to refuse a third positive gender option for people "not clearly identifiable" as female or male,⁣ [5] [6] citing Articles 1, 2, and 3 of the German constitution. [7] This ruling came in response to a constitutional complaint by Vanja, an at the time 26-year-old intersex person from Leipzig. Vanja had sued his [8] way up to the constitutional court. [9]

The constitutional court ruling for the right to a third gender came shortly after federal elections in 2017. The elections led to the formation of a grand coalition of Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and the Christian Social Union. The coalition agreement was signed on 12 March 2018, and Horst Seehofer (Christian Social Union) became minister of the interior. [10]

Minister Seehofer's legal draft provided for the third gender to be called "other" (German : anderes). However, justice minister Katarina Barley and family minister Franziska Giffey, both of the social democrats, blocked this proposal. In their view, "other" was disparaging. Barley favoured "further" (German : weiteres) while Giffey preferred "inter/diverse" (German : inter/divers). [11]

The government draft, hashed out within the grand coalition, settled on a third gender entry called German : divers, as well as an option for an empty gender entry. [10]

Trivia

Divers Free divers at the Blue Hole 2.jpg
Divers

In 2021, an online form created to book covid vaccination appointments around Cologne and Dusseldorf [12] mistakenly offered users to declare their gender as German : Taucher, a literal translation of the English "divers" as in "people who dive". The booking form was made by the regional public doctors' association German : Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein. [13] [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

The word cisgender describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, i.e., someone who is not transgender. The prefix cis- is Latin and means on this side of. The term cisgender was coined in 1994 as an antonym to transgender, and entered into dictionaries starting in 2015 as a result of changes in social discourse about gender. The term has been and continues to be controversial and subject to critique.

Diver or divers may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in Germany</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Germany rank among the highest in the world; having evolved significantly over the course of the last decades. During the 1920s and the early 1930s, lesbian and gay people in Berlin were generally tolerated by society and many bars and clubs specifically pertaining to gay men were opened. Although same-sex sexual activity between men was already made illegal under Paragraph 175 by the German Empire in 1871, Nazi Germany extended these laws during World War II, which resulted in the persecution and deaths of thousands of homosexual citizens. The Nazi extensions were repealed in 1960 and same-sex sexual activity between men was decriminalized in both East and West Germany in 1968 and 1969, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in Austria</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Austria have advanced significantly in the 21st century, and are now considered generally progressive. Both male and female forms of same-sex sexual activity are legal in Austria. Registered partnerships were introduced in 2010, giving same-sex couples some of the rights of marriage. Stepchild adoption was legalised in 2013, while full joint adoption was legalised by the Constitutional Court of Austria in 2016. On 5 December 2017, the Austrian Constitutional Court decided to legalise same-sex marriage, and the ruling went into effect on 1 January 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex human rights</span> Human rights for intersex people

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, or genitals, that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legal recognition of intersex people</span>

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, or genitals that, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discrimination against intersex people</span>

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". "Because their bodies are seen as different, intersex children and adults are often stigmatized and subjected to multiple human rights violations".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legal recognition of non-binary gender</span>

Multiple countries legally recognize non-binary or third gender classifications. These classifications are typically based on a person's gender identity. In some countries, such classifications may only be available to intersex people, born with sex characteristics that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex and LGBT</span> Relationship between different sex and gender minorities

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of intersex history</span> Overview of notable events in the timeline of intersex history

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in the United States</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in the United States of America

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Germany</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in Germany

Intersex people in Germany have legal recognition of their rights to physical integrity and bodily autonomy, with exceptions, but no specific protections from discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics. In response to an inquiry by the German Ethics Council in 2012, the government passed legislation in 2013 designed to classify some intersex infants as a de facto third category. The legislation has been criticized by civil society and human rights organizations as misguided.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender rights in Germany</span> Rights of transgender people living in Germany

Transgender rights in the Federal Republic of Germany are regulated by the Transsexuellengesetz since 1980, and indirectly affected by other laws like the Abstammungsrecht. The law initially required transgender people to undergo sex-reassignment surgery in order to have key identity documents changed. This has since been declared unconstitutional. The German government has pledged to replace the Transsexuellengesetz with the Selbstbestimmungsgesetz, which would remove the financial and bureaucratic hurdles necessary for legal gender and name changes. Discrimination protections on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation vary across Germany, but discrimination in employment and the provision of goods and services is in principle banned countrywide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Switzerland</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in Switzerland

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franziska Giffey</span> German politician, former Mayor of Berlin

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-Determination Act (Germany)</span> Gender law in Germany

The law on self-determination with regard to gender entry, unofficially also called the Self-Determination Act is intended to make it easier for transgender, intersex and non-binary people in Germany to have their gender entry and first name changed.

The Transsexuals Act was a German federal law that allowed people who did not feel they belonged to their gender to change their first name and gender in their civil status.

References

  1. "Male – Female – Diverse: The "third option" and the General Act on Equal Treatment". Antidiskriminierungsstelle. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  2. "Ratgeber für inter- und transgeschlechtliche Menschen". www.lsvd.de. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  3. "BGH verwehrt nicht-binärer Person die Streichung des Geschlechtseintrags nach § 45b PStG und verweist auf TSG – TrIQ: "Der Beschluss ist viel Kritik wert" – TransInterQueer e.V." (in German). Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  4. "Selbstbestimmungsgesetz tritt in Kraft | Bundesregierung". Die Bundesregierung informiert | Startseite (in German). 1 November 2024. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  5. BVerfG, Beschluss vom 10. Oktober 2017 - 1 BvR 2019/16
  6. Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Änderung der in das Geburtenregister einzutragenden Angaben BT-Drs. 19/4669 vom 1. Oktober 2018.
  7. "Headnotes to the Order of the First Senate of 10 October 2017". Bundesverfassungsgericht. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  8. "Artikel 3 des Grundgesetzes: Wie Vanja die Behörden auf das "dritte Geschlecht" gebracht hat". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). 23 May 2019. ISSN   1865-2263 . Retrieved 27 December 2022. mittlerweile zieht er ein männliches Bild von sich vor.
  9. "When 'male' or 'female' is insufficient – DW – 09/03/2016". dw.com. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  10. 1 2 "Vorgang - Gesetzgebung. Gesetz zur Änderung der in das Geburtenregister einzutragenden Angaben. 19. Wahlperiode". Bundestag DIP. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  11. "Drittes Geschlecht: Barley und Giffey blockieren Horst Seehofers Entwurf". Der Spiegel (in German). 19 May 2018. ISSN   2195-1349 . Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  12. KVNO (27 December 2022). "Die KV Nordrhein stellt sich vor | Karriere". kvno-karriere (in German). Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  13. "Corona-Impfung: Skurrile Panne! "Taucher" als Geschlecht wählbar - und viele schmunzeln, wenn sie die Erklärung hören". www.tz.de (in German). 2 February 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  14. heute-show (5 February 2021). "Peinliche Panne bei der Impftermin-Buchung". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 27 December 2022.