Germany Allows Birth Registration of 3rd Gender

[Timbuk2]

Germany allows 'indeterminate' gender at birth

Germany has become Europe's first country to allow babies with characteristics of both sexes to be registered as neither male nor female.

Parents are now allowed to leave the gender blank on birth certificates, in effect creating a new category of "indeterminate sex".

The move is aimed at removing pressure on parents to make quick decisions on sex assignment surgery for newborns.

As many as one in 2,000 people have characteristics of both sexes.

They are known as "intersex" people because they have a mixture of male and female chromosomes or even genitalia which have characteristics of both genders.

The intense difficulty for parents is often that a gender has to be chosen very quickly so that the new child can be registered with the authorities, the BBC's Steve Evans in Berlin reports.

Sometimes surgery is done on the baby to turn its physical characteristics as far as possible in one direction or the other, our correspondent says.

The law in Germany has been following a review of cases which revealed great unhappiness.

In one case, a person with no clear gender-defining genitalia was subjected to surgery. The person said many years later: "I am neither a man nor a woman. I will remain the patchwork created by doctors, bruised and scarred."

German passports, which currently list the holder's sex as M for male or F for female, will have a third designation, X, for intersex holders, according to the interior ministry.

It remains unclear what impact the change will have on marriage and partnership laws in Germany.

Current laws define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and civil partnerships are reserved for same-sex couples.

Where's Ness when ya need her?

An excellent first step for the Is out there.

Next step ... prohibit surgical gender (re-)assignment of I babies?

[LittleFuzzy]

A flat prohibition would not sit well with me. There is not a good sharp line as to what indeterminate genitalia is and consequently no clear distinction between reassignment and reasonable corrective/preventative procedures for infant abnormalities. Guidelines, warnings, and discretion are probably the best way to go.

[RandBlade]

Can someone educate me as to how this happens biologically? As far as I understand it Women have XX chromosomes, Men have XY chromosomes, the foetus will from the egg have an X chromosome and from the sperm will have either an X or a Y (Y slightly more likely on impregnation). Thus from whichever the sperm gives it determining once more XX or XY

How does Indeterminate happen? Is it a faulty chromosome? An extra one (like Down's), a missing one or something else?

[earthJoker]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex#Causes

[Dreadnaught]

Cool.

Is there some point at which one will have to choose a sex or list "intersex"? Like the kid can choose at 18 if they wish? Wondering how this impacts military conscription, etc.

[RandBlade]

When was the last time military conscription was an issue in Germany? Why would you expect it to be? Neither men nor women get conscripted nowadays so I fail to see how its relevant.

If you want a 21st century comparison, I wonder why happens if someone Intersex wants to become a pro-athlete.

[Dreadnaught]

I don't know -- but I imagine there are some situations where formal gender does have an impact. I think your sports analogy is much better, actually.