BERLIN — Germany’s Cabinet has approved a third gender option for official records that will allow people to be registered as “diverse,” complying with a Supreme Court ruling.

In November, the Federal constitutional Court decided that people must be allowed to be entered in records as neither male nor female, ordering authorities to create a third identity or scrap gender entries altogether.

It ruled on a case in which a plaintiff with one X chromosome but no second sex chromosome sought unsuccessfully to have their entry in the birth register changed from “female” to “inter/diverse” or “diverse.” Until now, the only other option was to leave the gender blank.

Wednesday’s Cabinet decision to add a third gender option, “diverse,” to the register of births requires parliamentary approval. </s> BERLIN — Germany's Cabinet on Wednesday approved a third gender option for official records that will allow people to be registered as "diverse," complying with a ruling from the country's highest court.

In November, the Federal Constitutional Court decided that people must be allowed to be entered in records as neither male nor female, ordering authorities either to create a third identity or scrap gender entries altogether.

It ruled on a case in which a plaintiff sought unsuccessfully to have their entry in the birth register changed from "female" to "inter/diverse" or "diverse." Until now, the only other option was to leave the gender blank.

The plaintiff provided courts with a genetic analysis showing one X chromosome but no second sex chromosome. Women have two X chromosomes, while men have one X and one Y chromosome. The court found that authorities could decide to do without any gender identity in civil registers or allow people in a similar situation to choose "another positive designation of their sex that is not male or female."

Wednesday's Cabinet decision to add a third gender option, "diverse," to the register of births requires parliamentary approval.

The center-left minister for families in Germany's conservative-led coalition government, Franziska Giffey, said it is "an important step toward the legal recognition of people whose gender identity is neither male nor female."

In neighboring Austria, the Constitutional Court ruled in June that authorities there must allow people to be entered in official records as something other than male or female if they so wish, but found no need to change that country's existing law since it doesn't specify explicitly that people's gender must be male or female. </s> BERLIN — Germany's Cabinet on Wednesday approved a third gender option for official records that will allow people to be registered as "diverse," complying with a ruling from the country's highest court.

In November, the Federal Constitutional Court decided that people must be allowed to be entered in records as neither male nor female, ordering authorities either to create a third identity or scrap gender entries altogether.

It ruled on a case in which a plaintiff sought unsuccessfully to have their entry in the birth register changed from "female" to "inter/diverse" or "diverse." Until now, the only other option was to leave the gender blank.

During a three-year legal battle, the plaintiff provided a genetic analysis showing one X chromosome but no second sex chromosome. Women have two X chromosomes, while men have one X and one Y chromosome. The top court found that authorities could decide to do without any gender identity in civil registers or allow people in a similar situation to choose "another positive designation of their sex that is not male or female."

Wednesday's Cabinet decision to add a third gender option, "diverse," to the register of births requires parliamentary approval.

The center-left minister for families in Germany's conservative-led coalition government, Franziska Giffey, said it is "an important step toward the legal recognition of people whose gender identity is neither male nor female."

However, advocacy groups and some opposition politicians said it didn't go far enough.

"Why should you produce a doctor's certificate to change your civil status?" opposition Green party lawmakers Sven Lehmann and Monika Lazar asked in a joint statement. "That must be a self-determined decision that is open to all."

In neighboring Austria, the Constitutional Court ruled in June that authorities there must allow people to be entered in official records as something other than male or female if they so wish.

However, it found no need to change that country's existing law since it doesn't specify explicitly that people's gender must be male or female.

FOLLOW NBC OUT ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM </s> The German Cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft bill that would add a third gender option to official identity records.

The bill allows intersexual people to register their gender as "divers," which translates roughly to "miscellaneous" or "other," and would come into force by the end of the year. Until now, people in a similar situation could only register without a gender.

The draft law follows a Constitutional Court ruling last year that found the current system violated a person's individual rights and anti-discriminatory laws.

The court had ruled on a case in which a plaintiff with one X chromosome but no second sex chromosome had tried unsuccessfully to change their gender at a birth register from "female" to third category. Females have two X chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y chromosome.

The judges found that authorities must choose to either scrap gender identification altogether or allow people in a similar situation to choose "another positive designation of their sex that is not male or female."

Wednesday's Cabinet decision still requires parliamentary approval before coming into force. However, Franziska Giffey, Germany's Social Democratic (SPD) minister for families, hailed the decision "an important step toward the legal recognition of people whose gender identity is neither male nor female."

Justice Minister Katarina Barley (SPD) also welcomed the draft bill, saying "it is long overdue that we finally modernize the Personal Statute Act" and that "no one may be discriminated against because of their sexual identity."

The Justice Ministry also indicated that it would draw up further laws aiming to get rid of other discriminatory regulations against intersexuals.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> In 2013, an intersex person in Germany launched a legal challenge to be allowed to change their gender in the country's birth registry. A little more than five years later, Germany's third gender law is going into effect, making it the first country in the European Union to offer a "third gender" option on birth certificates.

According to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, roughly 80,000 people in Germany are intersex. Starting this year, they — along with parents of intersex babies — will be able to select a "divers" classification on birth certificates.

Since 2013, parents of intersex children have had the option to leave the gender box on birth certificates blank. This will remain an option under Germany's new law, CNN reported, but the country's top court ruled last year that this was not enough. In November 2017, Germany's constitutional court ruled that lawmakers must recognize a third sex from birth, arguing that providing only the binary "male" and "female" options is unconstitutional.

Lawmakers subsequently had until the end of 2018 to decide on what a third option would be, and to implement the necessary changes. As Business Insider pointed out, this ruling primarily affects intersex people in Germany — and not transgender people — because it is allowing people to select a nonbinary sex classification, rather than gender. As a result, LGBTQ rights advocates have called on Germany's new law to be more inclusive, according to CNN.

According to VICE, Germany's third gender law currently requires physicians to certify "gender variations" in order for a person to change their gender classification in the birth registry. Activists have called for this medical approval clause to be removed for several reasons. Intersex people have historically been subject to unnecessary and traumatic medical interventions, and requiring medical approval also prevents the third gender law from being more inclusive of transgender and nonbinary people who don't identify as men or women.

Advocates are nonetheless hopeful that the new law will create more visibility outside the gender binary and that it will serve as a first step to more inclusive gender laws, CNN reported. German advocacy group Dritte Option — translated as "Third Option" — has campaigned for a third gender option to be introduced on birth certificates, passports, and other official documents for years. According to Dritte Option's website, they supported this initiative "to create space and visibility for all genders."

Although Germany is the only country in the European Union to implement such a law so far, other European countries — Denmark, Malta, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal, and Norway — currently offer transgender individuals the option to retroactively change their gender markers on their birth certificates, although they do not have a third gender option on other official documents. Countries outside Europe, however — such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, and Nepal — already have legislation in place similar to Germany's new gender law.

Advocates have heralded Germany's new law as progress, but are urging the country to go further by abolishing gender registration altogether, in order to be more inclusive of all genders and gender identities. They see the new law, which went into effect on Tuesday, as a first step toward that goal. </s> Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a third gender option for official records that will allow people to be registered as “diverse,” complying with a ruling from the country’s highest court.

In November, the Federal Constitutional Court decided that people must be allowed to be entered in records as neither male nor female, ordering authorities either to create a third identity or scrap gender entries altogether.

It ruled on a case in which a plaintiff sought unsuccessfully to have their entry in the birth register changed from “female” to “inter/diverse” or “diverse.” Until now, the only other option was to leave the gender blank.

During a three-year legal battle, the plaintiff provided a genetic analysis showing one X chromosome but no second sex chromosome. Women have two X chromosomes, while men have one X and one Y chromosome. The top court found that authorities could decide to do without any gender identity in civil registers or allow people in a similar situation to choose “another positive designation of their sex that is not male or female.”

READ MORE: B.C. baby first to get health card without gender marker

Wednesday’s Cabinet decision to add a third gender option, “diverse,” to the register of births requires parliamentary approval.

The center-left minister for families in Germany’s conservative-led coalition government, Franziska Giffey, said it is “an important step toward the legal recognition of people whose gender identity is neither male nor female.”

However, advocacy groups and some opposition politicians said it didn’t go far enough.

“Why should you produce a doctor’s certificate to change your civil status?” opposition Green party lawmakers Sven Lehmann and Monika Lazar asked in a joint statement. “That must be a self-determined decision that is open to all.”

In neighboring Austria, the Constitutional Court ruled in June that authorities there must allow people to be entered in official records as something other than male or female if they so wish.

However, it found no need to change that country’s existing law since it doesn’t specify explicitly that people’s gender must be male or female.

Canada has taken similar moves in the past, including a baby in British Columbia who recently became one of the world’s first to receive a health card without a gender marker.

Shortly after, a court ordered the government of Saskatchewan to allow the removal of gender markers on birth certificates, and a filmmaker in Ontario recently received a non-binary birth certificate after a drawn out legal battle.

By a slight majority however, Canadians remain uncomfortable with gender neutral birth certificates, according to a poll released by Angus Reid last July. </s> LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A new German third gender option does not go far enough, campaigners said on Thursday, after Berlin became the first European government to introduce the choice for intersex people.

Germany’s cabinet on Wednesday voted to introduce a third category of “divers,” or various, alongside male and female on birth certificates and other official documents, complying with a federal court ruling.

LGBT campaigners said the move did not go far enough and called for new laws to make it easier for people who do not identify with the gender they were born to change their sex on official documents.

“For trans people, nothing has changed regarding the obstacles they face to change their registered name and gender,” Markus Ulrich, a spokesman for the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The introduction of the new third gender category came after the Federal Constitutional Court called on lawmakers last year to enact legislation to either introduce a third category or dispense with gender altogether in official documents.

The ruling followed a court appeal brought by an intersex adult and said that courts and state authorities should no longer compel intersex people to choose between identifying as male or female.

In 2013, Germany became the first European country to recognize indeterminate sex by allowing babies born with no clear gender-determining anatomy to be put on the birth register without a male or female classification.

Richard Koehler, a policy advisor for Transgender Europe, said the new category would in theory require “invasive” tests to determine whether a person was intersex.

“Those who cannot or do not want to submit themselves to such invasive medicalization will remain excluded and without legal recognition. This is discriminatory,” he said.

Some campaigners however said the new law was a step in the right direction.

It makes Germany the first European country to allow the third option. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India and Nepal have already done so.

“It is a step in the right direction and we hope other states will follow,” said Moritz Prasse, the spokesman of the Third Option campaign group, which backed the original legal challenge. </s> The German Cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft bill that would add a third gender option to official identity records.

The bill allows intersexual people to register their gender as "divers," which translates roughly to "miscellaneous" or "other," and would come into force by the end of the year. Until now, people in a similar situation could only register without a gender.

The draft law follows a Constitutional Court ruling last year that found the current system violated a person's individual rights and anti-discriminatory laws.

Watch video 26:01 Share In Good Shape - How does gender reassignment work? Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/2msXj In Good Shape - How does gender reassignment work?

The court had ruled on a case in which a plaintiff with one X chromosome but no second sex chromosome had tried unsuccessfully to change their gender at a birth register from "female" to third category. Females have two X chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y chromosome.

The judges found that authorities must choose to either scrap gender identification altogether or allow people in a similar situation to choose "another positive designation of their sex that is not male or female."

SPD lawmakers hail decision

Wednesday's Cabinet decision still requires parliamentary approval before coming into force. However, Franziska Giffey, Germany's Social Democratic (SPD) minister for families, hailed the decision "an important step toward the legal recognition of people whose gender identity is neither male nor female."

Justice Minister Katarina Barley (SPD) also welcomed the draft bill, saying "it is long overdue that we finally modernize the Personal Statute Act" and that "no one may be discriminated against because of their sexual identity."

The Justice Ministry also indicated that it would draw up further laws aiming to get rid of other discriminatory regulations against intersexuals.

An estimated 80,000 to 120,000 people in Germany identify as intersex. This means they do not possess gender traits that are generally described as belonging to "male" or "female" people.

Statistically, an intersex child results from 1:1,500-1:2,000 births per year across the world.

Watch video 02:02 Share The In-Between Gender Activist Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/32jRu The In-Between Gender Activist

dm/kms (dpa, AP, KNA, epd)

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> Germany paves way for ‘third gender’ option at birth

BERLIN: The German government on Wednesday approved a draft law allowing a third gender option on birth certificates for babies who are not distinctly male or female.

In a move described by the justice minister as "long overdue", Chancellor Angela Merkel’s left-right coalition passed a bill permitting children born intersex to be registered as "various".

The measure follows a ruling by Germany’s top tribunal last November that current regulations on civil status are discriminatory against intersex people, noting that the sexual identity of an individual is protected as a basic right.

Germany has since 2013 allowed babies born with characteristics of both sexes to leave the gender options of male and female blank.

The Federal Constitutional Court gave parliament until the end of 2018 to amend the current legislation. The decision was in favour of an appeal brought by an intersex adult and said that courts and state authorities should no longer compel intersex people to choose between identifying as male or female. Intersex is a broad term encompassing people who have sex traits, such as genitals or chromosomes, that do not entirely fit with a typical binary notion of male and female.
The Cabinet of Germany approves a third gender option for official identification records. The change will come into force by the end of the year.