Fears were raised that change to make self-identification easier could help people evade the law
Migrants awaiting deportation will be banned from changing gender in Germany amid fears they may try to do so to evade authorities and remain in the country.
The German government is in the process of amending the country’s laws to allow people to switch gender at local registry offices, a drastic simplification of existing procedures.
But the interior ministry has raised concerns that migrants with no legal right to remain in the country could abuse the new legislation to confuse officials and avoid detection, forcing an amendment to the Bill.
A modified version of the legislation will now prohibit anyone who has been designated for deportation from assuming a different gender, German media reported.
The new Bill is aimed at replacing a “transsexual law” introduced in the early 1980s, which only allows people to change their gender after two independent psychological analyses and a review of their circumstances by a judge.
‘Self-determination law’
Instead, Olaf Scholz’s government is pushing to enable adults to change their first name and legal gender at registry offices without further formalities.The objections raised by the interior ministry prevented Mr Scholz’s cabinet from meeting a pledge to pass the planned “self-determination law” before the German parliament’s summer recess.
An original June deadline set by the cabinet to agree on the legislative changes passed without an official explanation for the delay.
But the interior ministry’s concerns were resolved over the summer and the law is now set to be agreed upon at a meeting on Wednesday.
Speaking at a government open day on Sunday, Mr Scholz confirmed that the Bill would be greenlighted by ministers this week.
Modifications to the legislation mean that registry offices will now have to inform Germany’s national crime unit and its domestic intelligence agency any time someone changes their name and gender.
The updated version of the Bill also explicitly exempts detectives from a ban on researching the “dead name” of anyone who has made use of the law to switch gender.
In addition to the furore over possible misuse of the legislation by migrants, the proposed changes have sparked a war of words between feminists and trans-rights campaigners over whether they will make it too easy for men to access women-only spaces, in particular saunas.
Critics of the Bill have been particularly insistent that women’s saunas should be reserved for biological women only.
The legislation’s latest wording, as reported by German media, makes clear that saunas will be allowed to turn customers away due to “the natural requirement for protection of intimate spaces” and “fear of vexation to other users”.
‘Fatal signal’
But Germany’s top LGBTQ official has criticised the exceptions granted to saunas.Sven Lehmann, the country’s commissioner for the acceptance of sexual and gender diversity, said in May that the Bill would send a “fatal signal” that trans people pose a threat to women.
Marco Buschmann, the German justice minister, who drafted the law, has meanwhile justified the reform push on the basis that “the constitution enshrines the freedom to choose your own gender identity”.
Berlin has also stressed that the Bill has nothing to do with medical procedures leading to sex-change operations.
However, one lesbian rights organisation has raised fears that it could encourage similar outcomes to those seen at the Tavistock Centre in London.
The facility has been accused by critics of being overly hasty in providing gender transitioning treatments to teenagers.
