Publications
Additional gender designation introduced for intersex people
press release 14 December 2018
Act Amending Information to be Entered into the Register of Births
The Bundesrat today approved the Act Amending Information to be Entered into the Register of Births, which was passed in the Bundestag yesterday. The new law, an amendment to the Civil Status Act, ensures that a Federal Constitutional Court Decision of 10 October 2017 will be implemented by the deadline of 31 December 2018.
Until now, intersex people (i.e. those who cannot be clearly identified as male or female due to variations in sex characteristics) have either had to be designated “male” or “female” or there has been the option to leave that section on their birth certificates blank. From now on there will be an option to actively select an additional term, “divers” (which roughly translates as “other”), as demanded by the Federal Constitutional Court.
For information registered at the time of birth, Section 22 (3) of the Civil Status Act allows this fourth option. Older people have the option, under Section 45b of the Civil Status Act, of changing their sex designation and given names by declaration to the registry office. This option is only open to people with variations in sex characteristics. This can be confirmed by a medical certificate, which intersex people typically possess. Medical certificates need not be recent, but may have been issued at the time of birth or at subsequent examinations. A psychological report is not required. Under certain conditions, an affidavit may be sworn as proof instead of submitting a medical certificate.
The law strikes a balance between the ability of intersex people to change their sex information and given names as easily as possible, and the public interest in ensuring that sex information in the Civil Status Register remains valid.
