Correcting the past

Maximum self-determination at last:

The German Parliament, or Bundestag, passed one of the world’s most far-reaching sex self-determination policies on April 12, despite protests from women’s rights campaigners. The Self-Determination Act (SBGG) establishes ‘gender identity’ as a protected characteristic and allows parents to change the sex marker on their children’s documents from birth.

Entschuldigen sie Deutschland but that’s not self-determination. That’s the opposite of self-determination. Parents changing the sex marker on a newborn’s documents is parental determination, not self determination. Verstehen sie?

No, actually, it’s just that Genevieve Gluck Reduxx worded it confusingly. What she meant was that the law lets parents change their children’s sex marker retroactively, starting at age 5.

But arguably the most troubling aspect of the law relates to a portion of the bill which permits parents to alter the recorded sex of children [ ] beginning from birth. From the age of five years old, it allows for name and sex changes if there is “mutual consent” between the child and their parents.

The word “retroactively” is so useful for this kind of thing. Insert it between “children” and “beginning” in that first sentence and we know where we are.

Where we are is a very stupid place, where parents of children age 5 can alter their children’s records to say the children are and always have been the sex they are not.

If parents choose to do so, they may alter the identifying information of their children from birth. The SBGG stipulates that the consent of a child is necessary from the age of five, and, “from the age of 14, minors can do it themselves, but require the consent of their guardians.”

However, should parents refuse to provide legal permission, “a family court would decide based on the best interests of the child,” thus allowing the state to overrule the wishes of parents or legal guardians.

Never mind that, the dudes are happy.

During the hearing on the SBGG, two trans-identified male politicians were present to advocate for and support the bill’s passage.

Tessa Ganserer and Nyke Slawik were elected to Germany’s Bundestag in September 2021 as representatives for the Green Party, taking positions that were reserved for female political representation.

They’re male and they occupy positions that were reserved for women.

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