Karlsruhe strikes down compulsory surgery for trans people

On 11 January 2011, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe issued a decision that ended a decades-long imposition on trans people in Germany. Until then, anyone who wanted to change their gender entry had to undergo surgery and be permanently unable to reproduce. That was what the Transsexual Act of 1980 required.

The complaint had been brought by a trans woman in her early sixties. She had long used her female first name, but legally she was still considered a man. She lived with a woman and wanted to secure this relationship. That was exactly where the problem lay. Registered partnership was only open to same-sex couples, and what counted was the entry in the civil status register. The registry office turned the two away. Without surgery, the only option left to them was marriage, as man and woman.

In the end, they did marry, while the proceedings were still under way. Given their age, they did not want to wait any longer. The woman nevertheless pursued her constitutional complaint to the end.

The judges of the First Senate ruled in her favour. Marriage forced her into a role that contradicted her sense of self and made it visible to everyone that she was trans. And they considered the compulsion to undergo surgery incompatible with the right to sexual self-determination and physical integrity. Whether a person lives permanently in their felt gender is shown not by the scalpel, but by how consistently they lead that life. The two provisions could no longer be applied.

For many, it came too late. They had already had surgery and been sterilised, often not of their own free will but because the state demanded it. Compensation has been a matter of dispute ever since.

The Transsexual Act itself remained in force for more than a decade, even though Karlsruhe had taken it apart piece by piece. Only in November 2024 was it replaced by the Self-Determination Act. Today, a declaration at the registry office is enough.