After a sometimes very emotional debate, the German Bundestag gave the green light to the government’s new self-determination law. On Friday, the plenary voted by a majority in favor of the law, which will make it much easier to pass on information about a person’s gender to authorities in the future than before. With a total of 636 votes cast, 374 MPs voted in favor of the law.
251 voted no, eleven MPs abstained. The opposition’s support for the traffic light coalition law came from the left group. The Union, AfD and the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) have clearly rejected the approval.
Easier to change gender
The new law should make it easier to have your gender and first name changed at the office. It stipulates that from November 1 this year, people can make the corresponding change by filing a declaration with the civil registry. The previous obligation to submit a medical certificate and multiple reports for this must be abolished.
The relief mainly affects transgender, intersex and non-binary people who previously had to overcome high hurdles to have their gender input, including their first name, changed at the office. To this day, you have to go through a lengthy and expensive process with expert reports.
The old law is replaced
The new self-determination law replaces the German transsexual law, which has been in force for forty years. The Federal Constitutional Court had repeatedly declared parts of the law unconstitutional and pointed out the humiliating procedures for those affected.
The humiliation is now over, Sven Lehmann, the federal government’s gay commissioner, said in the Bundestag on Friday. The transgender law has caused enough suffering. Greens MP Nyke Slawik, who herself belongs to the transgender group and had her gender entry changed based on the previous rules, thanked everyone who made the new law possible. “As transgender people, we experience time and time again that our dignity is a matter of negotiation,” she explained. This is over now. There was sharp criticism from the opposition.
Conservatives are against it
CDU MP Mareike Wulf (CDU) accused the governing coalition of using the law to allow any citizen to have their gender input changed at the office without giving further reasons. The AfD sometimes found drastic words. “Everyone should suddenly be able to be anything,” MP Martin Reichardt shouted. He spoke of “ideological nonsense” and “trans-extremists”. It is a “ridiculous law” that his group completely rejects.
According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in Europe and the rest of the world, the possibility of purely legal gender reassignment, purely through a self-determined decision, already exists in several countries, including Denmark, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Norway, Malta, Ireland, Portugal and Iceland. In South American countries such as Uruguay, Argentina or Brazil, people can also change their gender without having to undergo gender reassignment surgery. This is also possible in Pakistan.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
