Describing Germany's position on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues to outsiders isn't exactly straightforward. In fact, it's pretty complicated. This is because there's a slight disconnect between what the people of Germany pride themselves on – being tolerant, open-minded, easy-going, progressive and not very homophobic – and the actual legal status of LGBT individuals in the country.
Germany does seem, however, to be leading the way in terms of dealing with "intersex" children – the term used to describe those children who are born of physically indeterminate gender. On 1 November, Germany became the first country in Europe – and one of the first countries in the world – to allow the parents of babies without "clear gender-determining physical characteristics" to register them not as male or female, but to choose a third blank box instead.
While average Germans – Mr and Mrs Müller, say, or your Herr and Frau Schmidt – would probably consider themselves to be among the most tolerant people in Europe, and despite the fact that Berlin has long had a reputation as one of the most open and LGBT-friendly cities in Europe, surprisingly enough, same-sex marriage still hasn't been legalized in this country! What's more, although it's true that "eingetragene partnerschaften" or civil partnerships do allow the same tax breaks as conventional marriage, in terms of, for example, gay adoption rights, Germany still has some way to go before its bureaucratic laws catch up with its tolerant selbstbild, or self-perception.
But the new policy regarding intersex children is a necessary attempt to remedy a situation that, up until now, has been horribly difficult. Previously, German parents had just a week's time to decide whether their intersex children were male or female, and register them appropriately at the standesamt or registry office. The pressure on parents meant decisions would often be made in a state of panic and frequently lead to forced medical operations in the genital area.
Now that's all changed, thankfully. Since the beginning of this month, German parents of "intersex" children are able to choose to avoid choosing. Alongside the categories of "M" and "F", is a new category: "X". Now, the German government and legal experts are keen to stress that this third blank box isn't an official third gender, or the "other" box – so it doesn't actually mean that there are now three recognized genders in Germany. It's seen as a temporary solution for very specific intersex cases – the children aren't expected to live their lives as X's, but to make a decision to be male or female at a non-specified point in the future . However, many people view this decision, based on a review by the German Ethics Council, as a huge victory for intersex children. And it really is quite a momentous decision, especially when you consider that up to this point in time, intersex people haven't had any legal recognition on European birth certificates whatsoever.
Some German intersex activists are unhappy with the law, precisely because the blank box isn't an official third gender at all. In fact, Daniela Truffer from Zwischengeschlecht.org actually thinks the new law could even damage intersex children's rights. "Parents will be under more pressure than ever to avoid being forcibly outed by the state," she said to the feminist blog site Mädchenmannschaft. Truffer thinks the new law might lead to more genital operations being performed on babies and young children in an attempt to make them "fit in" more and avoid the blank box. She'd like to see a third box, but one that was based totally on choice, and not on physical characteristics or doctors' decisions. And she would also like to see any kind of surgical operations on the genital area be banned completely.
Still, even though there's a vast amount of progress to be made, this decision makes Germany one of the more progressive states regarding gender assignment and 'intersex' children's rights. Other countries which have introduced similar legislation include Nepal, Australia and New Zealand.
Transsexuality's another area in which Germany has been making a lot of progress recently. Germany now allows a person to change their legal gender if they can prove both a medical diagnosis of transsexualism and they've been living as their preferred sex for a minimum of three years. The previous laws were far stricter: transsexual people had to prove themselves permanently infertile as well as being forced to have surgery to change any external sexual characteristics to a "significant approximation" of the desired sex.
In fact, the "world's youngest transsexual" is a German – Kim Petras, a budding popstar, had her gender reassignment surgery at the age of 16. And last April, a Berlin trans man became the first German male to give birth. He now faces a long court battle to prove that he is the father and not the mother of his baby – even though he is legally a man, because he gave birth to the baby, the German authorities say they can only recognize him as the mother.
The situation for "intersex" and transgender people in Germany is far from perfect, but the German government is heading in the right direction.