Over here in Germany, the deal is this (looking into this was very interesting, btw):The "Transsexuellen Gesetz" (TSG) from 1980 determines how things work over here in Germany (there is no appropriate german equivalent for "transgendered" that's why "transsexuals" is used).
The TSG offers two things to someone who is transgendered
- a name change, and
- the change of your sex as it is registered in the register of births, deaths and marriages.
A name change can happen when the transgendered person
- is German (or has valid asylum over here),
- has lived as a member of the gender that (s)he identifies with for the past three years, and
- when it is not to be expected that the feeling of identification with the desired gender will change.
The 3 year time frame and the identification with the desired gender thing need to be certified by two independent therapista or counsellors who need to be experienced in transgender issues.
Changing your sex as it is registered in addition to all that is necessary for a name change also requires that the transgendered person
- is not currently married (to prevent that two women or men are legally married);
- has had gender reassignment surgery, and
- is hence permanently sterile (to prevent that a ftm transgendered man who is registered as a man suddenly gets pregnant, for example).
A change in your registered sex does not influence the relationship with children, parents or other relatives in any way. Once your gender has been changed in the register, people are seen before the law as members of the one sex they have chosen and can hence marry or adopt, for example.
The TSG, while is was one of the first of it's kind in central Europe, is not liked very much in the transgendered community here in Germany, as it does not enable people who opt against complete reassignment surgery to change their registered sex.
Considering that we will get same sex "registered partnerships" within the next few weeks (if everything goes well, on August 1st), that problem will disappear though (a mtf transgendered man who opts against full surgery could marry a man under the new registered partnership law) or the TSG would need to be reviewed to adapt it to the new law.
------------------
Caro
~spanking new Scarleteen Sexpert~
"We must become the change we want to see."
Mahatma Gandhi
[This message has been edited by Alaska (edited 07-02-2001).]