GRAS pleased with self-determination law in Germany

2023-08-24 16:39:14

Green and alternative students are demanding more self-determination when it comes to pronouns and choosing a name, even at universities.

Vienna (OTS) – The German traffic light government passed the so-called self-determination law yesterday. It brings a lot of relief for those affected, so the application in the office is enough to change the name and gender in the civil status register. The hurdle of two expert opinions and a court decision is eliminated.

“The German self-determination law makes it possible to carry out corrections quickly and easily, even on official documents. In Austria, changing the gender requires a psychological assessment, the name can only be changed after the gender entry has been corrected, since it has to be ‘gender-specific’,” says Sarah Rossmann, federal spokeswoman for the Greens & Alternative Students (GRAS) and states: “As a result, students in Austria are still being addressed with the wrong name and the wrong pronoun every day, both at and outside the university.”

“Another success for the transcommunity is the anchoring of the so-called ban on disclosure. It makes it a punishable offense to investigate and disseminate false, deleted data without the consent of the person concerned. This also prevents dead names, i.e. the use of a person’s false name.” , says Eluisa Kainz, spokeswoman for the GRAS parliamentary group, pleased with the German government’s decision.

Rossmann and Kainz now see the Austrian government as having a duty to follow the example of the self-determination law and to follow suit as quickly as possible, but they critically comment: “The implementation of a self-determination law under a government with ÖVP participation is hardly to be expected, but above all it is doing the Viennese state organization again and again made anti-trans comments and statements.”

Rossmann and Kainz therefore call on the universities to act themselves: “Until the state acts, the universities themselves must ensure that the students can disclose their real names and that this is used”, and conclude in unison: “We stand as GRAS remains clearly behind the students and call on the universities to end their discriminatory practice.”