On Friday afternoon the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, has approved the so-called “self-determination law”, a rule that makes it easier to change gender identity and name in the registry office. The law is among the various social reforms that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s liberal-leaning coalition government promised when he took office at the end of 2021: it was approved with 374 votes in favour, 251 against and 11 abstentions.
It will come into force on November 1st. The law provides that trans and non-binary people can request to change their gender and name on documents through a self-declaration, without having to submit court opinions or specific medical certificates, as required by the old rules, which date back to the 1980s. and were now considered obsolete and discriminatory.
The new rules also concern requests for gender and name changes for minors. In particular, for those under 14 years of age the request must be made by their parents or legal guardians, while those between 15 and 18 years of age can submit the request independently, but with the approval of their parents or legal guardians: if these do not agree, the minor can go to court.
The law was particularly contested by right-wing and far-right parties, including Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), according to which the new rules they would be excessively permissive and would allow the name and gender on documents to be changed in a substantially arbitrary way.
Germany thus joins the list of European countries that in recent years have introduced easier rules for changing names and genders, after Denmark, Norway, Finland and Spain.
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