No "gender identity" act in Germany!
Sign and share our Petition: https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/nein-zu-einem-geschlechtsidentitaets-gesetz-in-deutschland
Act now!
The "self determination act" planned by BUENDNIS 90 / DIE GRUENEN (German Green Party) and the FDP (Free Democratic Party) undermines the rights of women and girls, represents a massive restriction on freedom of speech, endangers children’s wellbeing and undermines the parental rights and duty of care.
We demand that our politicians firmly reject this law!
The German parties BUENDNIS 90 / DIE GRUENEN (German Green Party) and the FDP (Free Democratic Party) try to introduce:
- Self-ID, which means any man can declare himself a "woman" an vice versa.
- Compelled speech.
- Irreversible surgical interventions like genital and breast amputations on minors from age 14 against the will of the parents by court order.
If you live outside of Germany please describe the situation in your country or your personal experiences in a comment. Have similar laws been introduced? What impact have you seen on the rights of women and girls, children and parents, and free speech?
PLEASE ACT NOW!
SIGN THE PETITION.
READ MORE ABOUT THE BACKGROUND BELOW.
In summer 2020, the FDP and the GRÜNEN brought their drafts for a so-called “Self-Determination Act” into the parliamentary debate. The name is a euphemism. The law would allow every man to determine himself to be a "woman" before the law through mere self-declaration and vice versa. Obtaining two psychiatric reports, based on which a court decides on the change of the sex entry and name, would be omitted. The “Self-Determination Act” completes what had already started with the Transsexual Act (TSG): it breaks down the objectively tangible category of sex to which rights are attached and replaces it with a concept of subjectively perceived “gender identity”. The sex entry based on “gender identity” should according to these drafts, if desired, be allowed to be changed again after one year.
What can we do now?
Write to members of the German Parliament, Bundestag (see link below). Make it clear to your MPs or their party that you reject the restrictions on the rights of women and girls, children and parents, and the restriction of the freedom of speech of all citizens. Remember, it is not only the GREENS and the FDP who want to push this law through, it is also supported by parts of SPD and the LEFT. Even the CDU/CSU planned to give in as part of a Grand Coalition reform proposal by dropping psychiatric assessments for adults in a draft bill (January 2021). However, since it still adhered to the assessment practice for minors, the SPD parliamentary group rejected its draft.
Please sign and share this petition as well, no matter what country you live in. If you live outside of Germany, please describe the situation in your country or your personal experiences in a comment. Have similar laws been introduced? What impact did that have on women's rights, children's rights and freedom of expression?
You find information on how to write to MPs (addresses, tips, sample letters) here.
Terms used in the translation from German to English:
The German word "Geschlechtsidentität" translates literally into "sex identity", because we have no German equivalent for "gender". What they actually mean is the concept of "gender identity", therefore we translate "Geschlechtsidentität" here with "gender identity".
For your better understanding, this is how the FPD draft defines “sex identity” and the second major term in the bill - “sex assignment”:
"Sex identity" - "all sex-related aspects of subjectively perceived human identity"
"Sex assignment" - "the assignment of a person to a sex or the non-assignment to a sex"
Sources and additional information:
Bundestag parliamentary session on May 19, 2021
Here you find the videos of the 1st and the upcoming 2nd/3rd reading and the public statements (incl. WDI statement)
WDI country site Germany: More information in German
The WDI also offers open webinars for everyone on the topics mentioned above and other topics.
WDI YouTube channel
FAZ Thomas Thiel "Die Überwindung des Fleisches"
Reasons
The removal of rights of women and girls
As the introduction of such laws in other countries has already proven, spaces for women such as public toilets, changing rooms, showers, women's shelters, and women's prisons become mixed-sex spaces to which men have free access. Positions and offers intended for women, such as women's sports, women's centres, lesbian spaces, scholarships, and places on a party list, will be opened to men. This represents discrimination against women and thus violates Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, GG Art. 3 (3) which forbids sex-based discrimination. The wrong documentation of sex is not a private matter. It is particularly serious when you consider that more than 95% of violent and sexual offenses are committed by men and that most of the victims of sexual offenses are women and girls (PKS 2019).
The restriction of freedom of speech
Not only would women be deprived of rights for the "self-determination" of men. They and everyone else would be deprived of their freedom to talk about it. According to the “Self-Determination Act”, naming the correct sex or previous name of a person is punishable with up to EUR 2,500 as soon as they have changed their legal sex and name. The GREEN draft even wants to criminalize not only the “deliberate” but also the “negligent” mention of a person's sex or former name. The language that is to be used, whether by government agencies or in private, must therefore correspond to the idea of the existence of an undefined "gender identity" that is detached from biological sex. Although other laws in Germany provide for bans that restrict speech (e.g. prohibition of sedition), no other law requires society to use certain words. Forcing people to use false pronouns and denying material reality is a serious attack on freedom of expression, speech, press, information, and research.
Endangering the wellbeing of children and undermining parental rights and duty of care
The “Self-Determination Act” undermines the rights of parents and endangers the wellbeing of the child. Children from the age of 14 may therefore be exposed to unnecessary and irreversible genital-altering surgical interventions, which include the amputation of breasts, uteri, ovaries, and penises. Amputating healthy parts of the body or taking puberty blockers and hormones that damage the body cannot change a person's sex. The law should not suggest that this is possible. Although the consent of a legal representative is required for these medical interventions in minors, the family court can nevertheless enforce the performance of the surgeries if the legal representative does not consent. Name change and the change of the sex entry can already be made for children under 14 years of age with the consent of a legal representative or, against their will, with the consent of the family court. From the age of 14 even this barrier does not apply, and the child would be able to change their name and sex entry by themselves.
Although the GRUENEN and the FPD are simultaneously calling for the ban on medically unnecessary operations on children born with DSD / VSD (i.e. with ambiguous sex characteristics), they want to enforce such unnecessary and harmful operations on other children. The protection of children with DSD / VSD from unnecessary medical interventions is already regulated by the law for the protection of children with variants of sex development, passed on March 25, 2021.
Sources
https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2021/kw12-de-geschlechterentwicklung-kinder-830122
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