BERLIN (AP) — German lawmakers on Friday approved legislation that will make it easier for transgender, intersex and nonbinary people to change their name and gender in official records. The “self-determination law,” one of several social reforms that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s liberal-leaning coalition government pledged when it took office in late 2021, is set to take effect on Nov. 1. Germany, the European Union’s most populous nation, follows several other countries in making the change. Parliament’s lower house, the Bundestag, approved it by 374 votes to 251 with 11 abstentions. The German legislation will allow adults to change their first name and legal gender at registry offices without further formalities. They will have to notify the office three months before making the change. The existing “transsexual law,” which dates back four decades, requires individuals who want to change gender on official documents to first obtain assessments from two experts “sufficiently familiar with the particular problems of transsexualism” and then a court decision. |
Scientific herding improves yield, environment34th Phoenix Chinese Week Culture and Cuisine Festival held in ArizonaHapoel Tel Aviv, Hapoel Jerusalem reach Tel Aviv Winner Tournament finalFormer WWE star 'Shooter' Tony Jones dead at 53 as tributes pour in to 'a true legend'Chinese museum opens up digital database of 2,000Row erupts over bizarre claim William Shakespeare's works could have been written by a WOMANFuturistic scene of robots taking over backbreaking farm jobs on horizonRoof of the world inhabited since 50,000 years ago: archaeologistsRelics spanning over 4,000 years unearthed in China's ZhejiangEthnic village thrives on tourism