Kathmandu (Pahichan) December 16 – Germany\u2019s parliament has passed a law which will add a third gender to birth certificates for people born intersex.<\/p>\n
The blank option on forms,\u00a0instituted in Germany in 2013<\/a>\u00a0as a Europe-wide first, will be replaced by a \u201cdiverse\u201d option for newborns whose sexual anatomy does not fit the binary male or female, according to\u00a0The Local Germany<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Deutsche Welle<\/a>.<\/p>\n Intersex people will also be able to change their gender and first name on birth certificates if they feel they were assigned the wrong gender at birth, though this will usually require a\u00a0medical certificate<\/a>.<\/p>\n The changes to the law, passed on Thursday (December 13) by the\u00a0Bundestag<\/a>, came after\u00a0the highest court in the country ruled in favour of an intersex person<\/a>\u00a0seeking to add a third gender to official documents in November 2017.<\/p>\n The Federal Constitutional Court ordered that by the end of 2018, the parliament must legally recognise another gender option from birth or remove gender from documents entirely.<\/p>\n This overruled several lower courts who had rejected the\u00a0intersex<\/a>\u00a0person\u2019s case.<\/p>\n In August, Germany\u2019s cabinet, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel,\u00a0voted to approve plans<\/a>\u00a0to add the extra gender option.<\/p>\n Some pro-LGBT campaigners including Greens parliamentary group leader Anton Hofreiter have said that the law doesn\u2019t go far enough.<\/p>\n Hofreiter opposed the need for people to provide a doctor\u2019s certificate before any change could be made to their documents, telling Funke Media Group newspapers that it was \u201cpreposterous and a sign of distrust of those who don\u2019t fit into an old-fashioned view of society, especially that of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union of Germany) and CSU (Christian Social Union in Bavaria),\u201d according to\u00a0Deutsche Welle<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany board member Henny Engels also criticised the new law, as he said it was too focused on physical characteristics.<\/p>\n Engels insisted that \u201cgender is not only defined physical signs, but also by social and psychological factors.\u201d<\/p>\nWhy has Germany added a third gender?<\/h2>\n
LGBT activists say it isn\u2019t enough<\/h2>\n