Transgender rights in Germany

Transgender rights in the Federal Republic of Germany are regulated by the Transsexuellengesetz ("Transsexual law") since 1980, and indirectly affected by other laws like the Abstammungsrecht ("Law of Descent"). The law initially required transgender people to undergo sex-reassignment surgery in order to have key identity documents changed. This has since been declared unconstitutional. The German government has pledged to replace the Transsexuellengesetz with the Selbstbestimmungsgesetz ("Self-Identity law"), which would remove the financial and bureaucratic hurdles necessary for legal gender and name changes. Discrimination protections on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation vary across Germany, but discrimination in employment and the provision of goods and services is in principle banned countrywide.