On 8 June 2018, the article “Geschlecht und Recht” [Gender and legislation] by Oliver Tolmein was published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper. It summarises the draft bill of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI) in a very concise and accessible way and highlights various problem areas. According to Tolmein, the draft law, which merely aims to amend the Personal Status Code by introducing the category “other”, is a major oversimplification of the facts which does not do justice to the “Third Option” and the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of November 2017. An amendment to the German Transsexuals Act (TSG) would enable persons with a variation in sex development (also referred to as “intersex”) to retrospectively change their sex in the birth register if they have a medical certificate.
Since transsexuals can change their civil status only with a judicial order in accordance with the TSG, Tolmein describes the amendment of this law to include intersex persons as “unbureaucratic”. In addition, one of the concerns of the initiators of the “Third Option” was that self-assignment be used as a basis for civil status instead of physical sex characteristics.
Why there is any insistence at all on an entry in the birth register for children and adults is another question that arises. Tolmein concludes that it will be some time before these questions can be answered.
You can find the online article under the title “Weiblich, männlich oder weiteres?” (“Female, male or other?”) under this link.