Recently, the Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany made a decision on the possibility of including the so-called "third sex" in birth certificates. Citizens who do not consider their gender to be either male or female will be able to designate it by another word in the future. German Catholics have already expressed their opposition to this procedure.
By the end of 2018, the German government and parliament must develop and adopt a relevant law. The rationale for the decision was the constitutional right to self-determination of the individual.
The initial reason for the proceedings was the statement of the citizen, who had previously been entered in the birth certificate as a "girl". But the citizen asked to write it in the certificate using the word "inter" or "various". After all, the chromosome analysis done earlier showed that this person is neither a man nor a woman.
Earlier, the claim was rejected in all instances, even by the Supreme Court of Justice. The Constitutional Court, however, ruled that gender identity is a “fundamental aspect of the individual” and therefore protected by basic law. In addition, according to the decision of the judges, gender identity occupies a key position in self-determination and external perception of a person. Therefore, in people who do not have evidence of only one sex, such specificity must be taken into account in the birth certificate, and, accordingly, in subsequent documents.
The Constitutional Court stressed that now the so-called "intersex" will be given the opportunity to "determine their gender identity." Exactly what kind of record such citizens can retroactively enter into their document - "inter", "different" or "positive gender determination" - is still not clear (there are no suitable concepts in German, since the very concept of "intersexuality" is also new for linguists). German lawmakers must solve this problem by the end of 2018. It is noted that back in November 2013, an opportunity was created for such people to completely refuse to determine gender in the birth certificate.
According to general estimates, there are about 160,000 third-sex citizens living in Germany. The German Ethics Council in 2012 demanded that along with the female or male gender, these people should be given the opportunity to choose the designation “other”. Before making a decision, the judges interviewed 16 expert unions and organizations. Along with the Ethics Council, the German Institute for Human Rights, the German Society for the Study of Sexes and the German Society for Psychology spoke out for the introduction of the "third sex".
This decision was opposed by the Central Committee of German Catholics and the Federal Union of Civil Registry Workers. In their opinion, changing the sex in birth certificates will be associated with significant financial costs.
The Minister of the FRG family, Katharina Barley, spoke approvingly of the decision of the constitutional court. According to her, if a citizen is not able to voluntarily determine his gender in documents, this is a violation of individual rights and the prohibition of discrimination.
Promotional video:
Anna Rosé
