Third gender law (Germany)

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Third gender law
  • General Act to Amend the Law on Entries in the Birth Register (Gesetz zur Änderung der in das Geburtenregister einzutragenden Angaben)
Citation18 December 2018, Federal Law Gazette I page 2635
Territorial extentGermany
Effective 22 December 2018
(5 years ago)
Status: In force
A German passport with the sex marker 'X' for diverse. Reisepass X.jpg
A German passport with the sex marker 'X' for diverse.

Germany'sthird gender law introduced the gender "diverse" (German: divers) as a third option in alternative to "female" and "male" in the German civil status register. [1]

Contents

The law, codified in § 45b PStG (Personenstandsgesetz), laid down an administrative procedure for assigning a diverse gender. It requires 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 is 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 (Transsexuellengesetz). 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 is set to take effect in November 2024.

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 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 gender option for people "not clearly identifiable" as female or male,⁣ [4] [5] citing Articles 1, 2, and 3 of the German constitution. [6] 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 [7] way up to the constitutional court. [8]

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. [9]

Minister Seehofer's legal draft provided for the third gender to be called "other" (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" (weiteres) while Giffey preferred "inter/diverse" (inter/divers). [10]

The government draft, hashed out within the grand coalition, settled on a third gender entry called divers, as well as an option for an empty gender entry. [9]

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 [11] mistakenly offered users to declare their gender as Taucher, a literal translation of the English "divers" as in "people who dive". The booking form was made by the regional public doctors' association Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein. [12] [13]

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">LGBT rights in Germany</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) 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.

Human rights in Germany enjoy a high level of protection, both in theory and in practice, and are enshrined in the Grundgesetz. The country has ratified most international human rights treaties. Reports from independent organizations such as Amnesty International certify a high level of compliance with human rights, while others, like the researcher Tobias Singelnstein, point out several issues, in particular police brutality and mistreatment of refugees. The 2008 Freedom in the World report by US-funded Freedom House gives Germany a score of "1" for both political rights and civil liberties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Constitutional Court</span> Supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany

The Federal Constitutional Court is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law of Germany. Since its inception with the beginning of the post-World War II republic, the court has been located in the city of Karlsruhe, which is also the seat of the Federal Court of Justice.

<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">Timeline of intersex history</span> Overview of notable events in the timeline of intersex history

The following is a timeline of intersex history.

<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

Intersex people in Switzerland have no recognition of rights to physical integrity and bodily autonomy, and no specific protections from discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics. In 2012, the Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics published a report on the medical management of differences of sex development or intersex variations.

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

Franziska Giffey is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who is serving as Berlin State Senator for Economy, Energy and Enterprise since 2023. She served as Governing Mayor of Berlin from December 2021 to April 2023. She previously served as Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 until 2021. From 2015 to 2018, she was the mayor of the borough of Neukölln in Berlin.

This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 2019.

Alex Jürgen is an Austrian intersex activist. Jürgen was the first person in Austria to receive a birth certificate and passport with legal recognition of non-binary gender after having fought for it in court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Berlin state election</span> German state election

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Berlin state election</span> German state election

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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.

References

  1. "Male – Female – Diverse: The "third option" and the General Act on Equal Treatment". Antidiskriminierungsstelle. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  2. "Ratgeber für inter- und transgeschlechtliche Menschen". www.lsvd.de. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  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 2022-11-14.
  4. BVerfG, Beschluss vom 10. Oktober 2017 - 1 BvR 2019/16
  5. Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Änderung der in das Geburtenregister einzutragenden Angaben BT-Drs. 19/4669 vom 1. Oktober 2018.
  6. Bundesverfassungsgericht, 1 Senat (2017-10-10). "Bundesverfassungsgericht - Decisions - Civil status law must allow a third gender option". www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de. Retrieved 2022-11-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. "Artikel 3 des Grundgesetzes: Wie Vanja die Behörden auf das "dritte Geschlecht" gebracht hat". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). 2019-05-23. ISSN   1865-2263 . Retrieved 2022-12-27. mittlerweile zieht er ein männliches Bild von sich vor.
  8. "When 'male' or 'female' is insufficient – DW – 09/03/2016". dw.com. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  9. 1 2 "Vorgang - Gesetzgebung. Gesetz zur Änderung der in das Geburtenregister einzutragenden Angaben. 19. Wahlperiode". Bundestag DIP. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  10. "Drittes Geschlecht: Barley und Giffey blockieren Horst Seehofers Entwurf". Der Spiegel (in German). 2018-05-19. ISSN   2195-1349 . Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  11. KVNO (2022-12-27). "Die KV Nordrhein stellt sich vor | Karriere". kvno-karriere (in German). Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  12. "Corona-Impfung: Skurrile Panne! "Taucher" als Geschlecht wählbar - und viele schmunzeln, wenn sie die Erklärung hören". www.tz.de (in German). Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  13. heute-show (2021-02-05). "Peinliche Panne bei der Impftermin-Buchung". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2022-12-27.