The current text requires transgender people to appear in court and provide two expert reports to have the name and gender they identify with legally recognized.
Article written by
Posted
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
“The right to live a self-determined life is fundamental for all”, launched the Minister of the Family, Lisa Paus, to justify the proposal of the executive. The German government announced on Thursday, June 30, its intention to facilitate the official change of first name and gender for transgender people (people who do not identify with their birth sex).
>> Seven very simple questions about transgendering
“We live in a free and diverse society which is already more advanced in many areas than our laws are. It is high time that we adapt the legal framework to social reality”supported the Minister.
The government bill would replace the current “transgender law” in force for forty years in Germany, which requires people to appear in court and provide two expert reports, usually psychotherapists, for the name and gender with which they identify to be legally recognized.
Opponents have long called for the legislation to be scrapped, with claimants complaining of cumbersome processing and very intimate personal issues, including past sexual behavior. The procedure is also expensive – up to 2,000 euros – and quite simply “contrary to human dignity”had underlined the transgender politician Tessa Ganserer, since elected deputy of the Greens.
If the bill is adopted, an adult applicant will simply have to declare to the competent administration the change he wishes to make to the official documents. “One small step for administration and one big leap for a free society”welcomed Nyke Slawik, one of the two transgender deputies of the Bundestag.