Gender. The bill that divides Germany between simplifications, censorships and errors
The German government, SPD (Social Democrats), Greens and FDP (Liberals) has put in place a bill to ensure that children, aged 14 and over, can change sex with a simple self-certification at the registry office, without provide reasons. This is what the new norm on self-determination wanted by Verdi and FDP provides.
In the German newspapers the issue is much debated also because a similar proposal arrived in the last legislature, again from Verdi and FDP, but was rejected. At that time CDU / CSU and SPD held the majority. “The transsexual law dates back to 1980 and is degrading for those affected,” said Lisa Paus, federal minister of Verdi’s family.
But what did the German law already in force provide? In Germany, you change your sex with two steps: the meeting with two experts in the field of transsexualism and the subsequent decision of a court. However, this often involves an odyssey of years. So instead of eliminating the bureaucracy and delays of people who suffer from a condition of inequality, every aspect of biology that still exists is eliminated, also lowering the age.
Child and adolescent psychiatrists are very concerned about the government’s proposal. Also because the change of sex sets in motion a psychological, emotional and physical process that is not insignificant. Physical interventions such as hormone treatments and operations, even if so invasive, would become much easier to do. Even if the children remain under, what in Italy is called, “parental authority” a physical change already possible at that age can also include the bombardment of hormones, testosterone or estrogen, depending on the orientation.
If it may be common at the age of 14 not to have yet clear one’s sexual orientation, it is not by taking the situation to extremes that the problems are solved. Children are too young to make such decisions on their own. Such an easy possibility would affect the psyche with unpredictable effects on the future, psychologists explain.
Gender. Objections to German law
But even in the German media, objections to the law are quickly labeled transphobic. They are rarely discussed but they don’t seem far-fetched at all.
Criticism comes from feminist associations, says the newspaper close to the CDU Wetzlar Kurier.
They fear that women’s shelters are being misused, with young people who are actually male but declare themselves to be women in order to access, for example, showers or women’s shelters. A singular case also happened in Baden-Württemberg. A member of the Green movement, male, protested against this so-called self-determination law because he had previously declared that he felt like a woman and had been put on a list where women had a right of access, asking to take the place of a woman. woman, as provided by the statute. Which was not allowed at the time but which could happen today … with a simple self-certification.
The objection raised in the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung by Christian Steinberger, a lawyer specializing in criminal law in Munich, is not insignificant, given the simplistic option of the law of Verdi and FDP: “What should I say to a client (male, ed.) are you registered as a woman and now want to serve your six-year sentence for rape in a women’s prison? ”
What is the access to those who want to change their sex and are under 12 years old?
Legal guardians must submit the declaration of change of gender to the registry office. Basically it can be done but only with parental consent.
If disputes arise between parents and children, the new law provides: “In order to protect the personal rights of young people, the family court can provide guidance in cases in which the custodians do not agree in the best interests of the child, as in other constellations of the family law, replace the parents’ decision at the request of the minor “. In a nutshell the court decides.
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