Tessa Ganserer is still legally considered a man to this day.
In order to change her civil status, she has to submit two psychological reports, answer intimate questions about her private life, go through a trial in court.
The member of the state parliament fights against the transsexual law.
Tessa Ganserer is about to become the most powerful queer politician in the country.
In April, the Bavarian state parliament member was nominated by the Greens for a promising place in the Bundestag.
From autumn she could be the first trans member of the German Bundestag.
Nevertheless, their gender is still not legally recognized.
In order to change her civil status, she has to submit two psychological reports, answer intimate questions about her body and private life, go through a procedure in a district court.
This is out of the question for them.
Ganserer calls it “degrading”.
Transsexual Act: Hundreds or thousands of euros for correcting the gender entry
BuzzFeed News Deutschland * accompanied the politician in her struggle for recognition for two years. Exclusive insights into her professional and private life show how she became a star of the LGBT * community on the one hand, and how desperate in Germany's dealings with trans people at the same time. She emerged stronger from the difficult time before her coming out.
“I know who I am,” she told BuzzFeed News. "I will not stand before a judge, nor will I pay several thousand euros for the state to accept me in my gender." The proceedings often take months or years and cost those affected up to 3000 euros.
The 40-year-old Transsexual Act is now a ruin of law, many regulations have meanwhile been declared invalid by the Federal Constitutional Court.
For example, the obligation to be sterilized in order to legally correct the gender.
These regulations were abolished in 2011.
From 2022, trans people will officially no longer be considered mentally ill, the WHO decided two years ago.
Queer political motions usually have a bad chance in the Bundestag
For the second time, improvements were announced in the coalition agreement, but so far there has been no political agreement. The Union is sticking to mandatory medical advice, professional associations are strictly against it, as they consider it pathologizing. The opposition parties Greens, Left and FDP forced a roll-call vote in the Bundestag last week for a so-called self-determination law, which is intended to greatly simplify the process. Changes to first names and gender entries should therefore also be possible in front of the registry office. They clearly failed to achieve a majority. Angela Merkel did not vote.
In order to finally replace the transsexual law with a modern regulation, the former forest policy spokeswoman from Bavaria now wants to go to the Bundestag. “It cannot be that other people speak about the rights of trans people without their voices being heard,” she says. Other topics are also close to her heart. "I have the entire rainbow spectrum in view," she says. She is certain that her presence in the Bundestag alone will ensure greater acceptance and understanding. She will probably not be alone: The 27-year-old Nyke Slawik, climate expert for the Greens from North Rhine-Westphalia, is also trans and has good prospects of moving into the Bundestag. * BuzzFeed News is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
The editorial team of BuzzFeed News Germany reports regularly on the LGBTI * community, abuse of power and violence of hatred. You can reach the editors at recherche@buzzfeed.de.