Self-determination and Gender Identity
Project period: 2024-2025
Determining one's own gender identity and having it recognized by others is a human right. The Self-Determination Act (Selbstbestimmungsgesetz), which entered into force in 2024, implements this human right for the first time in German law by introducing a completely new procedure for changing one’s gender marker. It guarantees self-determination in respect of legal gender by allowing every person to decide for themselves what their legal gender should be.
This research project examines how well the human rights guarantees found in the Self-Determination Act have been implemented. Do the in part restrictive provisions of the new procedure mesh with the statutory goal of fully detaching the assignment of legal gender from third-party assessment and strengthening the self-determination of the person concerned? In addition, the inquiry will look at the application of the new self-determination law in legal practice. How are indefinite legal terms being interpreted? Where is there legal uncertainty and how can it be resolved? And to what extent is the substantive content formalized in the Self-Determination Act influencing our ideas about gender in- and outside the legal realm?