Swimming pool in Hanover: Now women and non-binary people are allowed to swim without outerwear
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / picture alliance / dpa
Hanover will soon also allow women and non-binary people to bathe shirtless in the municipal swimming pools.
The council of the state capital of Lower Saxony decided on Thursday evening to change the bathing regulations accordingly.
According to this, only the “primary sex organs” have to be covered “in the wet area” of municipal baths.
The new regulation applies from December 9th, said city spokesman Udo Möller on Friday.
It has yet to be published in the Official Journal.
In total, all people are allowed to swim topless in eight municipal indoor and outdoor pools in Hanover.
Since May, all people in Göttingen have been allowed to swim "topless" in municipal pools, initially the regulation only applied on weekends.
The trigger for the change was a non-binary person, who does not see himself as a woman or a man, who went swimming without outerwear in August 2021.
The bathroom saw the person as a woman and therefore spoke of a violation of the bathing regulations.
After discussions in the city, the bathing regulations were changed.
Topless swimming was also introduced for all genders in municipal pools in Siegen in North Rhine-Westphalia.
"We have no knowledge of which or how many other cities this is done," said Hanover's city spokesman.
The political motion found the appropriate majority.
"The administration is not aware of any experiences from other cities that would have spoken against such a regulation."
wit/dpa