Third Gender Law Goes Into Effect In Germany

 

Germany has become the first European country to allow babies to be registered as neither male nor female, after a law went into effect allowing German parents to register their newborn babies as neither male nor female if they were born with traits of both sexes.

The German parliament in January approved the law that went into effect on Friday.
The German Ethics Council, an advisory group, had urged the change to take the pressure off parents to make a hasty decision and possibly commit to surgery immediately after birth, the DPA news agency reported.
The council had argued, among other things, that many people born with both s*x characteristics who were operated on as children say they wouldn’t have consented to the surgery.
Parents had previously been required by law to register their children’s name and gender within one week with authorities.