Of all the 130 million babies born across the world per year, 1.7% is estimated to be intersex. What sounds like a tiny percentage is over two million people – more than those born with cystic fibrosis – being born with sexual characteristics that do not match the strict medical definitions of male or female.
Until now, every country in Europe required parents to define their child as male or female or, as was previously the case in Germany, ‘nothing.’ Now, however, German courts have announced that if the government don’t legally specify a third category by December 31st 2018, sex categories should perhaps be eliminated altogether.
Katarina Barley, the German minister for families, labelled the decision ‘long overdue.’ It comes following a case brought forward by a registered female whose chromosome test confirmed they were neither male nor female.
Germany joins Australia, New Zealand, Nepal and the United States in legally recognising intersex people. Even Malta – Europe’s previous forerunner of intersex rights with 2015’s Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sex Characteristics Act – requires parents to fit into one of two sexes.
One of the greatest issues with enforcing the label of either ‘male’ or ‘female’ is the risk of parents requiring intersex children to undergo painful, irreversible surgery which, for babies without autonomy, is non-consensual. The UN Special Rapporteur has said that this can cause ‘permanent, irreversible infertility and severe mental suffering.’
With Karlsruhe’s constitutional court labelling current regulations on civil status as ‘discriminatory’, it raises the question of how long it will take the rest of Europe to follow suit. In May this year, French courts ruled against offering a categorisation of ‘neutral’ sex to a 66-year-old born with neither a penis nor vagina and officially registered as a man. They argued the distinction between male and female was a ‘cornerstone’ of society.
In the UK, intersex people may only change their documented sex by declaring they are transgender and being diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Intersex activists have voiced their hopes that Germany's decision will inspire similar action here in the UK, labelling the current Gender Recognition Act ‘outdated.’ Germany’s ‘small revolution’ could be the catalyst intersex rights have been waiting for.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.