Federal Court of Justice judgment No third gender allowed in the birth register

BGH: "Female", "male" or no entry is possible
Karlsruhe (jur). Authorities do not need to provide a third gender in the birth register for intersex people. The civil status law provides only the entry "female", "male" or a complete renouncement of the gender specification, decided the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe in a decision published on Thursday, August 4, 2016 (Ref .: XII ZB 52 / 15). Intersexuals could not register their gender as "inter" or "divers".

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In intersexual people, gender can not be clearly determined after birth. The cause of this could be in the sex chromosomes, the presence of female and male genital organs and / or in the female and male sex hormones.

In the specific case, the sex of the now adult plaintiff had been entered in the birth register as "female". She was neither male nor female, but intersexual. Therefore, their gender in the birth register should also be recorded as "inter" or "divers".

However, the Hanover District Court rejected this entry in its judgment of 21 October 2014 (Ref .: 85 III 105/14, JurAgentur notification from the day of the judgment). It lacks for the registration of "inter" or "divers" on the legal bases. The indication of a third sex is not allowed.

This was also confirmed by the Federal Supreme Court in its ruling of 22 June 2016. The legislators only provide for "men" and "women". The question of whether intersex people are violated in their fundamental rights, no longer stand. For since a new legal regulation, children for whom the sex can not be determined can be entered in the birth register without such an indication.

For those affected, it makes no difference whether a gender-attributable entry is omitted or an entry occurs that can not be assigned to any existing "gender". fle