Germany will become the first country in Europe to join a small group of nations which recognise a third or “undetermined” sex when registering births, according to a report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung .
From November 1, babies born in Germany without clear gender-determining physical characteristics may get birth certificates registered without a reference to their sex, according to the report.
The change is being seen as the country’s first legal acknowledgment that it is possible for a human to be neither male nor female — which could have far-reaching consequences in many legal areas.
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While transsexuals are already legally recognised in Germany, hermaphrodites — those with both male and female genitalia — have always been forcibly registered as one or other sex at birth.
The decision was based on a recommendation by the constitutional court, which sees legal recognition of a person’s experienced and “lived” gender as a personal human right. Such “undetermined” persons will be allowed, at a later date, to identify themselves as the one or other sex and register the change on their birth certificates . — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2013