Restore the legal category of sex
The name „Geschlecht zählt“ means both „sex matters“ and „sex counts“.
Geschlecht zählt is an initiative that advocates that „sex“ counts in its real meaning in the German legal system. The organisation is committed to recognising the legal category of sex based on the physical-biological characteristics that distinguish „female“ from „male“ again in law.
Geschlecht zählt was founded by feminists committed to the goals of the second women’s movement. The initiative is supported by an array of women and men from the worlds of politics, science, medicine, education, business, justice and care work. Geschlecht zählt is an independent, non-commercial and fact-based initiative.
Not a matter of the body?
The initiative was founded in 2021 in response to the announcement of the “Gender Self-Identification Act”. With this law, the „traffic light“ government (a coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Liberals (FDP) and Greens) elected in the same year wanted to fulfill the demands of the transgender rights lobby. The act was actually passed by the Bundestag on April 12, 2024 and came into force on 1 November 2024. It replaces the Transsexual Act, a special law which previously regulated the change of the legal sex entry in the civil status register and which stipulated a procedure with expert opinions and specific measures for this.
In contrast, under the new law, the definition of a man or a woman is no longer determined on the basis of physical-biological sex, but is based on the subjective feeling of which „gender identity“ a person feels he or she belongs to, i.e. which socially constructed role (gender). Under this legal regime, a person seeking legal recognition of their changed gender simply declares this „emotional state“ at the register office and then obtains a legal change of their entry in the civil register. A man legally becomes a „woman“ and vice versa. Since emotional states can change over the course of life, the entry on a person’s gender can be changed repeatedly. To create the legal basis for this, the legal category „sex“ (Geschlecht) or its meaning is redefined and replaced with „gender identity“ (Geschlechts(rollen)identität/Genderidentität).
Paradigm shift for the legal system
The Self-ID Act thus heralded a paradigm shift for the German legal system and not only affects transsexuals, „transgender“, „non-binary“ and intersexual people, as is falsely being suggested, but all citizens. It is the reference point for all other laws for which sex is relevant. This affects all family and social law as well as labour law.
Example of the Bundestag and statistics
How this law influences sex-specific statistics in particular is apparent in the case of the Green member of the German Bundestag Markus (Tessa) Ganserer. In 2021, the German Green Party had enabled him to take a seat in the Bundestag as the self-defined „woman“ „Tessa“ on a safe list position by means of the party’s internal women’s statute. In the statistics for the Bundestag, Ganserer, who is legally a man, is now counted as a woman, which distorts the survey for the 20th German Bundestag.
Numerous women lodged an objection with the Bundestag and an election review complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court against the action of the Green Party and the election of Markus Ganserer.
Protecting the rights of women and girls
Geschlecht zählt strongly opposes the self-identification law. The achievements of second wave feminism and the findings of feminist research in all scientific disciplines must not be undone by a queer understanding of feminism and politics. The specific rights of women and girls are not a privilege but have been hard fought for. Among other things, this involves separate spaces that offer women and girls protection from male dominance and violence, and to which male persons who see themselves as women are not allowed access.
The initiative is committed to ensuring that the sex-based protection and civil rights of women and girls, as laid down in the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), are upheld.
Getting active
Geschlecht zählt aims to motivate and support women to actively stand up for their rights and to exercise their fundamental right of freedom of expression, including on the topic of sex. To this end, Geschlecht zählt provides information on this issue. The initiative aims to encourage women (and men) to defend themselves against the defamation and threats that experience has shown occurs as soon as the negative effects of the transgender ideological concept of gender or gender identity are brought up for discussion.