Germany - Brief Version
Citation: TvT research project (2010) “Country Results: Germany - Brief Version”, “Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide” (TvT) project website: http://www.transrespect-↵
transphobia.org/en/countries/germany-1.htm
Date of information: January 2010
In this section, we have provided an overview with very brief summaries intended to be used as a quick information resource. For more detailed and elaborate information, please see the section “Elaborated Version.”
- General Country Information
- Recent Developments
- Legal Situation
- Social Situation
- Trans Murder Monitoring results
- Official statements
- Recommendations
- Sources
- Acknowledgements
General Country Information
Name of State: Federal Republic of Germany
Area: 357,021 km2
Population: 82,652,000
Government: Federal Parliamentary Republic
Capital: Berlin
Official Language: German
Memberships: Germany is a member state of the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe (CoE), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the United Nations (UN).
Remarks: After the end of the Nazi dictatorship (1933-1945), two German states were founded: the German Democratic Republic (GDR), also known as East Germany, and the Federal Republic of Germany, also known as West Germany. West Berlin belonged to the FDR, but as it was located inside the territory of the GDR, it had a special status. On October 3, 1990, the two formerly separate German states were reunified.
Source: Cheers and Gordon (2008: 238)
Recent Developments
2009: Initiative to include “Sexual Identity” in the German Constitution
2008: Support of statement at the UN General Assembly confirming that international human rights protections include sexual orientation and gender identity
2008: Second European Transgender Council in Berlin
Date of information: January 2010
For more detailed and extensive information, please see the section “Elaborated Version.”
Legal Situation
Constitution:
| GENDER IDENTITY IN CONSTITUTION |
||
|---|---|---|
| Constitution: |
No inclusion of Gender Identity |
|
| Initiative: |
Inclusion of "Sexual Identity" in the German Constitution |
|
| Date: |
2009 |
|
| Initiators: | LGBT organisations and activists, the State/City Governments of Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg, and two political parties (Green Party and Social Democrats). | |
| Remarks: | The definition of “Sexual Identity” in this context includes gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people, transsexuals and intersexuals. | |
| Source: | Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project | |
Gender Recognition Legislation:
| GENDER RECOGNITION LEGISLATION |
||
|---|---|---|
| Legislation: |
"Transsexual Law" (TSG) |
|
| Date: | 1981 |
|
| Legal Name Change: |
Possible, via court proceedings |
|
| Requirements: |
Diagnosis of Transsexuality |
|
| Legal Gender Change: |
Possible, via court proceedings |
|
| Requirements: |
Diagnosis of Transsexuality, Permanent Infertility, Gender Reassignment Surgery |
|
| Privacy Protection: |
Yes |
|
| Marriage: |
No divorce required after legal gender change (since June 2008) | |
| Remarks: |
TSG is applicable to foreigners with permanent residence in Germany (since June 2006) | |
| Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project | |
Anti-Discrimination Legislation:
| ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LEGISLATION |
||
|---|---|---|
| Legislation: |
"General Equal Treatment Law" (AGG) |
|
| Date: | 2006 |
|
| Remarks: |
This law makes no distinction between discrimination on ground of sexual orientation and discrimination on ground of gender identity. Instead, both characteristics are subsumed under the term “sexual identity” (Sexuelle Identität). The definition of “sexual identity” includes both sexual orientation and sexual self-definition, and relates to homosexual men and women, bisexuals, transsexuals and intersexuals. | |
| Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project | |
Hate Crime Legislation:
| Hate Crime Legislation |
||
|---|---|---|
| Legislation: |
No Hate Crime Legislation |
|
| Initiative: |
No Initiative |
|
| Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project |
|
Date of information: January 2010
For more detailed and extensive information, please see the section “Elaborated Version.”
Social Situation
Health Care
Transphobic incidents and reaction
Health Care
AVAILABLE FORMS OF GENDER REASSIGNEMENT THERAPY AND SURGERY
HAIR REMOVAL
FACE FEMINIZATION SURGERY
HORMONE THERAPY
BREAST AUGMENTATION
MASTECTOMY
HYSTERECTOMY
VAGINOPLASTY
PHALLOPLASTY
METOIDIOPLASTY
FUNDING AVAILABLE FOR
HAIR REMOVAL — (sometimes)
HORMONE THERAPY
BREAST AUGMENTATION — (rarely)
MASTECTOMY
HYSTERECTOMY
VAGINOPLASTY
PHALLOPLASTY
METOIDIOPLASTY
Date of information: January 2010
Transphobic incidents and reactions to these incidents
| Death threat against a trans person in Göttingen in 2009 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Date: | October 2009 |
|
| Location: | Göttingen, Germany |
|
| Incidents: |
Death threat against a trans person on a university campus | |
| Remarks: |
In October 2009, a trans person received a death threat from a female student on the campus of the Georg-August-University in the German city of Göttingen. The perpetrator bumped intentionally into the trans person, insulted the victim and threatened the victim with death. |
|
| Reactions: |
One day later, up to 60 people participated in a spontaneous demonstration against transphobia on the university campus. Eventually, an “Alliance against Transphobia” was founded. As a reaction to a racist incident some weeks later on the same campus, this alliance was transformed into an “Alliance against Transphobia and Racism.” In January 2010, the alliance organized a “Demonstration against Transphobia and Racism” in Göttingen, in which up to 150 people participated. The alliance is planning further actions. |
|
| Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project |
|
| Attacks against trans sex workers in Berlin in 2009 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date: | August 2009 |
|
| Location: | Berlin, Germany |
|
| Incidents: |
Attacks against trans sex workers | |
| Remarks: |
In the beginning of August 2009, trans sex workers in a district of Berlin were threatened several times in a very transphobic way by a group of young men armed with iron clubs, baseball bats, and bottles. On August 5, 2009, a trans sex worker was attacked with a knife and severely injured. She was hospitalized. In the following weeks, more brutal attacks against trans sex workers took place and many were injured. Some were treated in hospitals. |
|
| Reactions: |
After these transphobic incidents, representatives from the police, the District management, and several NGOs, including trans organisations, formed a roundtable to address the situation. The group decided to produce an emergency flyer to support trans sex workers. In the following weeks, the Berlin police provided security for trans sex workers by confronting known troublemakers (“Gefährderansprachen”) and by demonstrating public presence at night, actions welcomed by the trans sex workers. Workers and the police cooperated to identify the suspects. An alliance that included two sex worker organizations, a support group for homeless people, a migrant organisation, and a trans organisation organized a demonstration on September 4, in which up to 200 people took part. |
|
| Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project |
|
| Attack against QUEER AND trans PEOPLE in Berlin in 2008 | |
|---|---|
| Date: | June 2008 |
| Location: | Berlin, Germany |
| Incident: |
Attack against queer and trans people |
| Remarks: |
In June 2008, trans persons and homosexual women were brutally attacked in a transphobic and homophobic way as they left a drag festival in an “alternative” neighbourhood of Berlin. Some of the victims had to be hospitalized. |
| Reactions: |
Two days later, 3000 people demonstrated against these transphobic and homophobic attacks. This resulted in a wide media coverage. |
| Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project |
Date of information: January 2010
More information will be provided after the analysis of the TvT questionnaire results and other research data has been concluded.
Trans Murder Monitoring results
The Trans Murder Monitoring project has found no reported homicides of trans persons in 2009.
| 1. N.N. | Essen | |
|---|---|---|
| |
||
| Name: | N.N. | |
| Age: | 30 | |
| Date of Death: | June 2nd 2008 | |
| Location of Death: | Essen (Germany), own apartment | |
| Cause of Death: | Stabbed to death | |
| Remarks: | Victim was described as a transvestite and was stabbed by a 16-year-old boy, who thought the victim was a woman. | |
| Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project: Ruhrnachrichten, 02.06.2008 |
|
| 2. Silvana Berisha | Hamburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Name: | Silvana Berisha | |
| Age: | 31 | |
| Date of Death: | June 24th 2008 | |
| Location of Death: | Hamburg (Germany), own apartment | |
| Cause of Death: | Stabbed to death | |
| Remarks: |
Migrant, working in the sex industry |
|
| Follow-up: | In January 2009, the perpetrator -- a 19-year-old man -- was brought to court. The perpetrator stabbed his victim 39 times with a 30cm-long knife. When he saw that his victim was still moving, the perpetrator smashed the head of the victim with a video recorder. The judge at the Hamburg court referred to the perpetrator’s "absolute desire to exterminate" and described the murder as “extremely brutal,” but declared there was “no motive.” The perpetrator was sentenced to seven years for manslaughter. | |
| Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project: Tagesspiegel 26.01.2009 |
|
For a general surview and more information see the section "Monitoring TMM”.
Official statements regarding Gender Identity and Human Rights
2008: Support of statement at the UN General Assembly confirming that international human rights protections include sexual orientation and gender identity
2006: Signing of a joint statement at the UN Human Rights Council condemning human rights violations on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity
Date of information: January 2010
For more detailed and extensive information, please see the section “Elaborated Version.”
Recommendations
Revision of the Gender Recognition Law “TSG”:
Recommendation 4 of the Issue Paper “Human Rights and Gender Identity” of the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe:
Abolish sterilisation and other compulsory medical treatment as a necessary legal requirement to recognise a person’s gender identity in laws regulating the process for name and sex change.
Recommendation 8 of the Issue Paper “Human Rights and Gender Identity” of the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe:
Involve and consult transgender persons and their organisations when developing and implementing policy and legal measures which concern them. (Hammarberg 2009: 43-44)
Hate Crime Legislation
Recommendation 2 of the Issue Paper “Human Rights and Gender Identity” of the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe:
Enact hate crime legislation which affords specific protection for transgender persons against transphobic crimes and incidents. (Hammarberg 2009: 43)
Date of information: January 2010
For more detailed and extensive information, please see the section “Elaborated Version.”
Sources
Law texts:
“General Equal Treatment Law” (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG) online:
http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/agg/BJNR189710006.html (in German)
“Law concerning the change of given names and gender recognition in special cases” (Gesetz über die Änderung der Vornamen und die Feststellung der Geschlechtszugehörigkeit in besonderen Fällen) online:
http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tsg/BJNR016540980.html (in German)
Other sources:
Cheers, Gordon and Olds, Margaret (2008) “Geographica – Weltatlas mit Länderlexikon,” Königswinter: Tandem Verlag.
Hammarberg, Thomas (2009) “Human Rights And Gender Identity,” CommDH Issue paper July 2009, (https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1476365&Site=CommDH&BackColorInternet=FEC65B&BackColorIntranet=FEC65B&BackColorLogged=FFC679, January 2010)
