Germany creates 3rd gender identity for records: ‘diverse’

Celebrations at the Brandenburg Gate. Photo: DPA BERLIN — Germany’s Cabinet has approved a third gender option for official records that will allow people to be registered as “diverse,” complying with a Supreme Court ruling.

In November, the Federal Constitutional Court decided that people must be allowed to be entered in records as neither male nor female, ordering authorities to create a third identity or scrap gender entries altogether.

It ruled on a case in which a plaintiff with one X chromosome but no second sex chromosome sought unsuccessfully to have their entry in the birth register changed from “female” to “inter/diverse” or “diverse.” Until now, the only other option was to leave the gender blank.

Wednesday’s Cabinet decision to add a third gender option, “diverse,” to the register of births requires parliamentary approval.