Germany's Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that a term covering those people who do not correlate themselves with either the male or female sex or those that eschew traditional gender identities must be created. Thus, the new term should be used in all official documents, including birth certificates.
Before the ruling was made, German civil law stipulated that a child must be listed as male or female, or that particular section in the certificate be left blank.
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According to judges such requirements violate the constitution's provisions on privacy and discrimination.
"Courts and administrative authorities are no longer allowed to apply the relevant standards, insofar as they amount to an obligation to indicate the sex of persons whose sex development has variations in relation to female or male sexual development and who therefore do not permanently assign themselves to male or female sex," the ruling said.
