BERLIN: Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a plan to make it easier for transgender, intersex and non-binary people to change their name and gender in official documents, legislation that the justice minister said aims to make life easier for “a small group for which it has great significance”.
The legislation still needs approval by parliament. It is one of several reform plans that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition of three socially liberal parties has embarked on, and has been criticised by the conservative opposition.
Under the planned “self-determination law,” which has been in the works for over a year, adults would be able to change their first name and legal gender at registry offices without further formalities. They would have to notify the registry office three months before making the change.
The existing “transsexual law”, which dates back four decades, currently requires individuals who want to change gender on official documents to first obtain assessments from two experts “sufficiently familiar with the particular problems of transsexualism” and then a court decision.
Over the years, Germany’s top court has struck down other provisions that required transgender people to get divorced and sterilized, and to undergo gender-transition surgery.
The proposed legislation focuses on individuals’ legal identities. The new rules allow minors 14 years and older to change their name and legal gender with approval from their parents or guardians; if they don’t agree, teenagers could ask a family court to overrule them.