The third gender option law that will begin in Germany on
November 1, 2013, is a revolutionary law since it gives parents the right not
to pin down the sex of their child as male or female on the baby’s birth
certificate but to choose “undetermined.”
The third gender option is crucial for children who are born
as intersex children meaning that their sex cannot be definitely determined at
birth.
Assigning the wrong sex to a baby has lifelong consequences
as the story of Scottish-Australian Norrie May-Welb shows.
Norrie May-Welb was designated to be “male” on her/his birth
certificate even though it was not clear to doctors whether the baby was a girl
or a boy.
