Highest German Court Just Became Highly Politicized

Posted: 11/15/2017

A Rather Baseless Verdict

Perhaps, the highest German court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) just ruined its reputation by coming down with a so called progressive decision (decision of 10/10/2017, case no. 1 BvR 2019/16)  in favor of a third gender in a seven to one vote. It appears that the sole judge who voted against this decision did not publish a dissenting opinion.

It becomes a serious problem when the highest judges fail to exercise judicial restraint when it comes to very controversial, social issues that have the potential to remain divisive among the German citizens for many years to come (e.g. the infamous Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973).

There was no compelling evidence that the appellant was really discriminated against by government agencies or in society, but the judges argued there was discrimination. The judges created or adopted a new theory of the paramount and superseding importance of gender for a person’s life. Gender was declared a fundamental human right.

The highest judges of the land have given in to pressures from militant and influential activists and contemporary fads of the time. Or have these judges promoted their fame, fancy, and legacy? Or did they try to be cutting edge or at the forefront of jurisprudence?

The current German law allows for three options when it comes to register a citizen’s gender, i.e. male, female or omitted (fehlende Angabe). Latter option would have been sufficient.

This decision was not Solomonic at all. These highest judges became politicians abusing the power vested in them.

The Appellant In This Case

The appellant in this case was an individual with a missing chromosome that identifies a human as either female or male. He was apparently sponsored by an advocacy group for intersex people of which the appellant is the founder.

In recent times, these humans and other humans with genital ambiguity are referred to as intersex. There are an estimated between 80,000 to 160,000 persons living in Germany with this genetic feature depending on how wide the definition is. Wikipedia quotes an estimate of 1.7% of the population (country?) are diagnosed as being intersex.

In the past, these people were called hermaphrodites or congenital eunuchs.

Ramifications

It was reported that Germany will be the first European country to recognize a third gender. The highest court mandated that the legislature has to find a solution by end of 2018.

There are probably so many, considerable ramifications of this decision that you cannot even dream of listing all of them. Here are just a few. Certainly a can of worms was forcefully pried wide open by these judges.

It will probably become quite expensive for taxpayers to make accommodations for the other, evolving genders. The highest judges simply dismissed as irrelevant any arguments of additional costs to taxpayers or increased administrative burdens.

In sports and athletics, we have already the phenomenon of males competing as females against females.

Public restroom disputes have only begun. Is this just the opening salvo of a social controversy?

Speculation About The Future Of Human Gender

1. Equal rights have been fought over for at least the past 200 years or so and they have been largely achieved
2. Ideological and largely irrational battles over e.g equal pay or gender quotas have been fought for several decades and will continue. The majority of humans will have to suffer through this
3. There is a trend of more women being enlisted in military forces, even in combat units
4. The trend of feminization of men continues, so does the trend of masculinization of women
5. The trend of more humans to transgender will continue. It’s popular, it’s a fad, it gets you attention and perhaps more money and so on. Will this trend reverse, i.e. a transgendered person wants to reverse back to the previous gender? You bet
6. Gestation of human beings outside the womb will probably be achieved within the next 50-100 years
7. Genetic modifications of women and men will progress in various ways
8. Life expectancy of humans will be dramatically extended in coming decades, thus e.g. diminishing the importance of procreation

Sources:

1. Personenstandsrecht muss weiteren positiven Geschlechtseintrag zulassen Pressemitteilung Nr. 95/2017 vom 8. November 2017
2. 1 BvR 2019/16 (Full text of decision)
3. http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/bundesverfassungsgericht-fordert-drittes-geschlecht-in-geburtenregister-15283020.html