Germany will become the first country in Europe to join a small group of nations which recognise a third or “undetermined” sex when registering births, according to a report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
From 1 November, babies born in Germany without clear gender-determining physical characteristics will be able to be registered without a sex on their birth certificates, according to the report.
The change is being seen as the country’s first legal acknowledgement that it is possible for a human to be neither male nor female — which could have far-reaching consequences in many legal areas.
While transsexuals — people born of one gender who feel they belong to the other and wish to be recognised as such — are already legally recognised in Germany, hermaphrodites – those with both male and female genitalia — have always been forcibly registered as one or other sex at birth.
The German decision to recognise a third gender was based on a recommendation by the constitutional court, which sees legal recognition of a person’s experienced and lived
gender as a personal human right — via redwolf.newsvine.com
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