The Federal Constitutional Court found the current law—requiring birth registers to have either “male” or “female,” or be left blank—unconstitutionally discriminates against those born with ambiguous sexuality. The ruling came on the heels of Germany legalizing same-sex marriage in October.

(WNS)–While the European Union debates marriage, Germany’s highest court has taken up the gender question, ruling earlier this month that officials must create a third gender option for official records, or do away with gender altogether. The ruling came in a case involving a biologically intersex person.

The Federal Constitutional Court found the current law—requiring birth registers to have either “male” or “female,” or be left blank—unconstitutionally discriminates against those born with ambiguous sexuality.

The ruling came on the heels of Germany legalizing same-sex marriage in October.

Although the ruling, read narrowly, only applies to those born with sex development disorders, transgender rights groups brazenly celebrated the move as a win for “anyone outside the norms of sex and gender in Germany and Europe.”

Almost immediately, Transgender Europe and several German LGBT rights groups released a joint statement praising the ruling for opening the door to a third gender option not only for those with biological gender ambiguity, but also for all who self-identify as other than male or female.

In a contrasting move, France’s highest court rejected a proposal earlier this year to create an official third gender for intersex individuals, calling the distinction between male and female “necessary to the social and legal organization, of which it is a cornerstone.”

The Intersex Society of North America advocates for giving infants born with a sex development disorder a gender label of either girl or boy, arguing intersex is not a natural category, and that labeling a person with a third made-up gender category is unhelpful. It also furthers the idea that gender is not a biological, God-created reality, which is why LGBT advocates are pushing for it, whether it is helpful or not.

The German government has until the end of 2018 to establish a new policy related to the ruling.

© 2017 World News Service. Used with permission.