Germany creates third gender identity

Germany's Cabinet has approved a third gender option for official records that will allow people to be registered as "diverse," complying with a ruling from the country's highest court.

In November, the Federal Constitutional Court decided that people must be allowed to be entered in records as neither male nor female, ordering authorities either to create a third identity or scrap gender entries altogether.

It ruled on a case in which a plaintiff sought unsuccessfully to have their entry in the birth register changed from "female" to "inter/diverse" or "diverse."

Until now, the only other option was to leave the gender blank.

Wednesday's Cabinet decision to add a third gender option, "diverse," to the register of births requires parliamentary approval.

The centre-left minister for families in Germany's conservative-led coalition government, Franziska Giffey, said it is "an important step toward the legal recognition of people whose gender identity is neither male nor female."

The Justice Ministry also indicated that it would draw up further laws aiming to get rid of other discriminatory regulations against intersexuals.