European lawmakers approved regulations on Friday that will make it simpler for transgender, intersex, and nonbinary individuals to change their brand and identity in official records.
The “self-determination law,” one of several social reforms that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s liberal-leaning coalition government pledged when it took office in late 2021, will go into effect on November 1.
Germany, the European Union’s most populous state, follows several different locations in making the change. Parliament’s lower apartment, the Bundestag, approved it by 374 votes to 251 with 11 nays.
Individuals can shift their first title and legal sex at registry offices thanks to the European policy, which may require no additional paperwork. They will need to contact the workplace three months in advance of making the change.
According to the current “transsexual law,” which dates back four decades, people who want to change gender on recognized documents must first get evaluations from two professionals who are “sufficiently knowledgeable about the particular issues of transsexualism,” and therefore a court decision.
The top prosecutor in Germany has overturned additional laws that required gender transition surgery and divorce for transgender people since that law was written.
“For over 40 years, the ‘trans law’ has caused a lot of suffering … and just because people want to be recognized as they are,” Sven Lehmann, the president’s director for gay problems, told legislators. “And now we are eventually putting an end to this.”
The new policy focuses on citizens’ legitimate identities. It does not require any adjustments to Germany’s rules for sex-transition surgery.
Teens can ask a family judge to overturn the new rules, which will allow adolescents 14 years and older to change their name and legal identity with parental consent.
Parents or guardians would have to file registry applications on their behalf in the case of children younger than 14 years old.
No further changes would be permitted for a year after a formal change of name and gender becomes effective. For example, the new legislation allows women to continue to choose who has access and what access options are available to the owners of gyms and changing rooms.
Nyke Slawik, a transgender woman who was elected to parliament in 2021 for the Greens, one of the ruling parties, described her experience a decade ago. She claimed she had gotten too many questions like, “Is that your brother’s ID?” when she had to identify herself.
“Two years, many conversations with experts and one district court process later, it was done — the name change went through, and I was nearly 2,000 euros ($2,150) poorer,” she told lawmakers. “As trans people, we repeatedly experience our dignity being made a matter for negotiation.”
The legislation was criticized by the mainstream conservative opposition for what it described as a lack of protection for young people and a lack of safeguards against abuse. Susanne Hierl, a conservative lawmaker, claimed that the government is “ignoring the legitimate concerns of many women and girls.”
“You want to satisfy a loud but very small group and, in doing so, are dividing society,” Hierl said.
What he called “ideological nonsense” was attacked by Martin Reichardt of the far-right Alternative for Germany.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann stated in a statement that “there are numerous precautions against potential abuse, however improbable they may be.” He argued that the new law “much less will change with this law than some say” and that it reflects the interests of the entire society.
Among others, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Spain already have similar legislation.
In the United Kingdom, a bill that would allow those 16 and older to change the gender designation on identity documents by self-declaration was passed by the Scottish parliament in 2022. That was vetoed by the British government, a decision that Scotland’s highest civil court upheld in December.
In other socially liberal reforms, Scholz’s government has legalized the possession of limited amounts of cannabis, eased the rules on gaining German citizenship, and ended restrictions on holding dual citizenship, and ended a ban on doctors “advertising” abortion services. In 2017, same-sex unions were already permitted.
