After an emotional debate, the Bundestag gave the green light to the new self-determination law. The previously applicable transsexual law is history.
After a sometimes highly emotional debate, the Bundestag gave the green light to the federal government’s new self-determination law. The majority of the plenary session voted in favor of the law, which is intended to make changing gender entries in the office much easier than before.
With a total of 636 votes cast, 374 MPs voted for the law. 251 voted no, eleven MPs abstained. Support for the coalition law came from the Left group. The Union, AfD and the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) clearly rejected approval.
The new law should make it easier to have your gender and first name changed at the office. It stipulates that from November 1st of this year people can make the corresponding change by making a declaration to the registry office. The previous obligation to submit a medical certificate and several reports for this should be eliminated.
Removing high hurdles
The relief primarily affects transgender, intersex and non-binary people who previously had to overcome high hurdles in order to have their gender entry, 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 new Self-Determination Act replaces the Transsexual Act, which has been in force for 40 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, said the federal government’s queer commissioner, Sven Lehmann, in the Bundestag. The transgender law has caused enough suffering. Green MP Nyke Slawik, who herself belongs to the group of trans people and had her gender entry changed based on the previous rules, thanked everyone who made the new law possible. “As trans people, we experience time and time again that our dignity is made a matter of negotiation,” she explained. This is now over. There was sharp criticism from the opposition.
The CDU MP Mareike Wulf (CDU) accused the government coalition of using the law to allow every citizen to have their gender entry changed in the office without giving any further reasons for this. The AfD sometimes found drastic words. “Everyone should suddenly be able to be anything,” shouted MP Martin Reichardt. He spoke of “ideological nonsense” and “trans extremists”. It is a “ludicrous law” that his group completely rejects.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
