Those affected see the transsexual law as a humiliating and excluding law. Jj is non-binary and wants to finally say goodbye to the “ruined law”.
The Transsexual Act (TSG) that is intended to give people the opportunity to change the gender assigned to them at birth has a turbulent history: Since it was passed in 1980, particularly inhumane (and unconstitutional) aspects of the law have been gradually removed. This includes, among other things, the compulsion to be sterilized or to have already carried out the first measures for physical adaptation to the desired gender.
Transsexual law to be replaced by self-determination law
But the hurdles are still high and people who want to change their gender entry or name have to face, among other things, psychiatric reports and their assessment by judges. The German Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD) describes this on its website as a process with a “lengthy and humiliating assessment”.
The Self-Determination Act is intended to change that: In the coalition agreement, the SPD, the Greens and the FDP have agreed that it should be possible to legally change the first name and the gender entry at the registry office in the future. For this purpose, only the self-disclosure of the person should be sufficient – a court process in which judges and experts are involved and includes both court costs and costs for the expert opinions of up to 2,000 euros, which the persons concerned currently have to pay themselves. should be eliminated in the future. So far there is no draft law for the Self-Determination Act, which is intended to replace the TSG.
In an interview we spoke about TSG as it is now with Jj Link (pronounced: “Jay-Jay”. The name stands for Jj’s first and last name Jasmin Janosch), a non-binary person and parent. Jj wants the government to abolish the TSG, which is long overdue, and a policy that is based on the realities of life for all – and not just a few – people.
BRIGITTE: Hello Jj, which pronouns may I use to address you?
Jj Link: I would prefer if you try to do without pronouns. In English I would use “they”, but in German there is no pronoun that has become established. So feel free to just repeat my name.
You’re welcome. First of all, would you like to tell our readers a little bit about yourself?
I am 40 years old, studied media informatics and am the parent of two children aged ten and 13. For the past seven years, I’ve been transitioning from a female-read human to a non-binary human. For me, that means taking hormones and having a mastectomy (editor’s note: this means surgery to get a flat chest)—both things I really didn’t plan on doing.
I’ve often been asked, ‘Do you want to be a man now?’ and then I said, ‘No, I want to be me.’
Then, after investigating further, I thought that I would probably feel better if I tried it. And I feel better that way! I’ve often been asked, “Do you want to be a man now?” and I would always say, “No, I just want to be me.” And that me is a little more manly than I used to be, but it’s also not like it feels right for me to say, “I’m a man.” That means I describe myself as non-binary and also as trans. And I’m bi That was the case before my transition and it is still the case now.
How is your non-binarity an issue in your everyday life?
It is a special feature for many people because some of them do not know it – for them there are men and women. And the fact that someone now describes themselves as “neither nor” or as “in between” or “both” is unusual at first. It’s a bit of a thing for both sides: the other people have to deal with the fact that they are in an unfamiliar situation. I have to deal with the fact that I put people in a situation where they become insecure. Each time I have to think about how much or how little I want to explain. I’ve gotten better at explaining over time.
I want to keep other people’s uncertainty about non-binary issues as brief as possible.
That means that I can now tell stories relatively quickly and, above all, positively. I have found that the more confident I am in such explanations, the easier it is for other people to accept what I want to say. The panicky first thought of many is: “Okay, now I can’t get any further in this conversation with Mr. or Mrs. Link, what should I do then?!” For me it was an important process to be able to explain myself quickly and well so that other people don’t get this scared and scared – I want to keep the scaring as short as possible so that people can easily understand. And that’s why I usually introduce myself like this: “Hello, my name is Jj, I lived as Jasmin for 35 years, that’s also my e-mail address. But I don’t use the name anymore, I would be happy if you say Jj to me.”
Trans is sometimes seen as an umbrella term for non-binarity, for example – is that correct?
no I think it’s good to distinguish here: Does the person in question use this term for themselves or not? There are people who have made a transition but do not or do not want to call themselves trans because they say: “I am a woman or a man with a transgender past.” In everyday use one might call this trans, but it is always important to make a distinction: are we talking about a self-designation or a definition here? By definition, non-binary falls under trans because in both cases the gender assigned at birth does not match the gender the person perceives themselves to be. But the self-designation does not have to correspond with this: There are also non-binary people who do not describe themselves as trans or vice versa. Unfortunately and fortunately there is a very wide range, which sometimes makes it a bit confusing.
Before we spoke, we spoke on the phone once and you told me that you would like to change your name. In the context of the TSG, however, this is associated with major hurdles.
Yes, I’ve been waiting for at least four years for there to finally be a better regulation. I was hoping that with the third option in the gender entry, there would finally be a way for anyone who knows their assigned gender doesn’t match to have the option to change the entry. But the third option was subject to fairly narrow criteria that don’t apply to me. Many people are still busy overturning the last remnants of TSG with lawsuits. In this context, the term “ruined law” might be more appropriate – there is so little left of this law that I don’t understand why it still exists at all. I don’t think it’s right that I have to go through a legal process to change my name. If I got married I would also change my surname and that kind of thing just happens at the registry office and I don’t see why changing my first name or correcting my gender shouldn’t happen there too.
No cis person has to prove that they really identify with their assigned gender.
There are already drafts for a self-determination law, but this is not without controversy. Some people just think that there must be hurdles that make it difficult to change the gender entry. Although it is not the case that a cis person has to prove that they really identify with their assigned gender. So there is an asymmetry there. Other countries, where the hurdles for correcting the gender entry are not so high, also show that this can be done without any problems. Anyway, I don’t quite understand why you need the gender entry at all. We’re no longer conscripted. Men, women and various people are equal, so what does the state have to do with this gender entry at all?
As you say yourself, the Self-Determination Act is controversial. Some people worry about being robbed of their “safe space” – for example, a toilet, which tends to be used by cis women. What are your thoughts on this?
Actually, I don’t want to say anything about this discussion. Just one thing about Safe Spaces: Actually, this is just about managing a deficiency. If there were enough Safe Spaces, also for trans people, then that wouldn’t be the problem. But it becomes a problem – and we currently have that – if there are not enough Safe Spaces. Playing off the interests of trans women who have experienced violence against the interests of cis women who have experienced violence or against the interests of lesbian women is not the solution, nor should it be the goal. Rather, the solution must be to establish enough safe spaces for everyone. After all, the common problem of all these people is that we live in a society in which different groups do not feel safe and not that these groups exist.
Sources used: personalstandsrecht.de, lsvd.de, interview