{"id":357724,"date":"2024-04-24T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T07:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.co.uk\/?p=357724"},"modified":"2024-04-20T17:50:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T16:50:08","slug":"self-determination-law-germany-reactions-queer-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/justice\/self-determination-law-germany-reactions-queer-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany just passed a landmark ‘Self Determination’ law \u2013 but does it go far enough?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prominent members of the German trans+ community share their thoughts on the new law, passed on 12 April, which seeks to make updating your legal name and gender marker easier.<\/p>\n

WORDS BY SAMUEL BENKE<\/strong>
\nARTWORK BY YOSEF PHELAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Since 1981, Germany\u2019s<\/a> trans, non-binary and intersex communities were forced to contend with the so-called \u2018Transsexual Law\u2019 (TSG for short) if they wanted to legally change their name and gender marker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Entailing a long, costly and often discriminatory review process, individuals were required to present to a local court with reports by two experts <\/span>\u201csufficiently familiar with the particular problems of transsexualism\u201d who could attest that, in all likelihood, they would not want to revert back to the gender they were assigned at birth.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the many years since the TSG was first implemented, the proportion of people who reversed their decision remained the same: around 1%. Nevertheless, under the TSG, people had to undergo a months-long, degrading assessment process, which was not only expensive at \u2013 costing around \u20ac2,000 \u2013 but also, allegedly, asked for intimate details about the candidate\u2019s childhood and sexual past.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the law\u2019s most dehumanising regulations, thankfully, were classified as unconstitutional over the years; such as the stipulations requiring individuals be unmarried (forcing some to attain a divorce in order to be eligible) which was repealed in 2008, or those requiring that candidates be infertile or undergo sterilisation, which was repealed in 2011.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Understandably, the pain and injustices of TSG have run deep, among multiple generations, during the legislation\u2019s 44 year history. However, on 12 April 2024, the act was finally replaced by the new Selbstbestimmungsgesetz (SBGG), or Self-Determination Law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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A post shared by GAY TIMES (@gaytimes)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n