The German government on Tuesday unveiled a proposal for a law that would remove long-standing requirements for persons to obtain expert assessments and a court’s authorization in order to legally change their name and gender.

Adults will be able to change their initial name and legal gender at registrar offices under the proposed "self-determination law" without further procedures.

“We have taken another big step forward with the self-determination act and with it also in the protection against discrimination and the rights of transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people,” Germany’s minister for families, Lisa Paus, said.

“This way we can give back some of the dignity to those who have been deprived of it for decades,” she added.

The current "transsexual law," which went into effect in 1981, calls for people to get assessments from two experts — such as doctors — whose education and experience make them "sufficiently familiar with the particular problems of transsexualism" before a court can decide to change the gender on official documents.

Over the years, Germany’s top court has struck down other provisions that required transgender people to get divorced and sterilized and to undergo gender-transition surgery.

“Transgender people have been affected by discrimination and undignified treatment for far too long — we will finally put this condition behind us,” said Justice Minister Marco Buschmann, who presented the proposal together with the family minister.

The current government proposal states that legal guardians must submit the declaration of change for children under the age of 14, but that teenagers beyond the age of 14 should be able to do so on their own with their custodians' support.

Image source: AP