Monday afternoon saw German politician Tessa Ganserer come out as transgender, making her the first openly trans Member of Parliament in the country.
Ganserer was elected as MP of the Green Party in the state of Bavaria in southwest Germany in October 2018. She was elected under her deadname. Ganserer had previously identified as gender fluid, recently explaining that she had been exploring her gender for the past ten years.
The German politician took to Twitter to speak about her gender:
“I am a woman with every fibre of my body. And now I’m Madame Regional MP as well. Life as Markus Ganserer was not bad. But I am Tessa Ganserer and I will finally live like this.”
Das Leben als Markus Ganserer war nicht schlecht .
Aber ich bin Tessa Ganserer und werde jetzt endlich auch so leben. https://t.co/7F4nf1jK5b— Tessa Ganserer 🏳️⚧️🌈 (@GansGruen) January 4, 2019
Ganserer’s announcement was met with support from her fellow MPs. The president of the regional parliament Ilse Aigner applauded Ganserer for coming out:
“Mrs Ganserer has taken a very brave and highly personal decision. Our male colleague is becoming a female colleague, that should not be a problem in this house.”
Aigner continued:
“A person’s personality is always more important than their gender.”
Ganserer revealed that she first came out privately to her wife and three children who were very supportive:
“Children don’t have prejudices. If you present the world to them in a friendly way, they will accept it as it is.”
Her coming out coincided with the passing of a new law in Germany which facilitated a third gender option on birth certificates, marking a step forward for LGBT+ rights in the country. Just two years ago, the country recognised same-sex unions for the first time.
However, trans and non-binary Germans still face obstacles in terms of gender recognition. German law requires trans citizens to amend their gender on birth certificates as well as approval from two medical professionals in order for their gender to be recognised legally.
© 2019 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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