Gender self-determination law passed in Germany

Changing marital status becomes easier in Germany thanks to the entry into force on Friday 1^is November of a flagship and hotly debated law from the government of Olaf Scholz, welcomed with relief by the LGBTQIA + community.

A simple declaration to the civil registry is now enough: Germany joins the club of countries having adopted liberal legislation in this area, i.e. around ten in Europe including the Danish precursor, Belgium, Switzerland or even last year, Spain.

“I am very happy because it is a historic day for the recognition of sexual diversity and for the recognition of human rights and transgender and non-binary people in Germany”declared ecologist Nyke Slawik, MP who notably brought this law to the Bundestag, in an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The “self-determination law” allows people who wish to change their first name and gender to make a request to the local civil status office, then make it official by returning there three months later. These people can choose between four possibilities: female, male, diverse or “no mention of gender”.

Pre-registrations have been open since 1^is august. According to the magazine The mirrorsome 15,000 people have already submitted an application.

“Degrading expertise”

The new text replaces legislation dating from 1981, which provided for a costly and lengthy procedure requiring two psychological reports where candidates had to answer very intimate questions about their sexuality. In the end, a judge decided whether or not to grant the request.

The Constitutional Court had already partly abolished this text and allowed the obligation of sterilization and surgical intervention before a gender change to be repealed in the 2010s.

“After more than 40 years, the so-called law on transsexuals, synonymous with degrading expertise and violations of fundamental rights, is abolished”welcomed the federal association for the defense of the rights of transgender people (BVT).

The new text also clarifies the case of minors. For those under 14, only parents or guardians will be able to initiate proceedings. Minors over the age of 14 will be able to do so themselves, but only with the consent of their parents. These minors will have to present a declaration indicating that they have sought the advice of a psychologist or a youth protection service. No further changes will be permitted for one year.

“Climate of fear and prejudice”

A survey published Thursday by the YouGov institute testifies to the acceptance of the new legislation in the country: 47% of those questioned said they were completely or somewhat in favor of it, compared to 37% who rejected it.

MP Dorothee Bär, a member of the conservative Bavarian CSU party, on Wednesday accused the government, a coalition between Olaf Scholz's social democrats, the Greens and the liberals of the FDP, of having produced a “scandalous ideological project” and too permissive.

The association “Let the women speak” was opposed to this self-determination law, claiming that men will use it to attack women in spaces reserved for them. The association claims to be as TERF, or trans-exclusionary radical feminist (in French: “radical feminists excluding trans people”), an admittedly transphobic movement which excludes trans women from feminist struggles. She took part in a demonstration of around a hundred people in the center of Berlin on Friday.

Application of similar laws in other countries “did not cause an increase in attacks against women”according to Nyke Slawik, who deplores a propensity of conservatives to “create a climate of fear and prejudice against minorities in order to take advantage of them” at the political level.