Protest Germany's introduction of self ID

[ArabellaScott]

Nov 1st at the German Embassy in London.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/protest-at-german-embassy-tickets-1012760843947

Bumping for friends in Germany who are blissfully unaware of what could be coming down the track.

I'm non the wiser what is the protest about?

As the title says, it's about Germany's introduction of a self ID law.

https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-moves-closer-gender-change-easier-sel-determination-act-law/

14 years and up can self declare gender as of November.

The first paragraph of that article shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what self ID means.

German lawmakers voted Friday in favor of the Self-Determination Act, making it easier for transgender, intersex and non-binary people to change their gender entry at the country’s registry office.

It would be more accurate to say

German lawmakers voted Friday in favor of the Self-Determination Act, making it easier for anyone to change their gender entry at the country’s registry office.

The laws are being made by people who naively think that only people who genuinely believe themselves to have a trans identity will use this law, when the fact is that it's open to anyone.

It's astonishing that there are so many people with political power who don't understand how this law will be exploited by predatory males, whether they genuinely believe themselves to be transgender or not.

Well, it is the worst government in postwar Germany history. My best guess is that they're going along with things that are popular with their activists, popular with academic dweebs, and that the state-aligned media tell them are really popular with the public.

This has not worked out well for them on other issues.

The funny thing is that opinion polling in Germany is quite good. Pollsters should be able to tell the political class what won't fly with the public. But they have this fatal deference whenever Professor Doktor von der Narrischkeit tells them they're on the right side of history.

“It's astonishing that there are so many people with political power who don't understand care how this law will be exploited by predatory males, whether they genuinely believe themselves to be transgender or not.”

Fixed it for you.

Bumping to add a link to the organizers' website. There are templates of protest letters to send to Embassies before the event:
https://lasst-frauen-sprechen.de/selfidharms/

(Website also in English)

Thanks, that'll be useful for people who can't attend in person, too.

There is a German consulate In Edinburgh:

<a class="break-all" href="https://uk.diplo.de/uk-en/01/2consulate-general" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://uk.diplo.de/uk-en/01/2consulate-general</a>

anybody protesting there?

You’d think the rise of AfD might have caused them to cop on, but no…

Um Gottes Willen 🤦‍♀️😡

There's next to nothing on German news or press on the new "Selbstbestimmungsgesetz", it's almost like they want to sweep it under the carpet.
When I still lived in the UK I was more informed about the law than my family here in Germany.

The current government seem to always be at odds with each other and each of the parties wants to get their pet project through. The one thing they were seemingly in agreement was the self ID legislation.

Argentina, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay have in recent years removed burdensome requirements for legal gender recognition, according to Human Rights Watch. Those countries now provide for simple administrative legal gender recognition processes based on self-declaration.

My bold. They just don't get it, do they? Or perhaps as PP suggest, just don't care. And we got so used to thinking of the Germans as the sensible people.

Countries may “remove burdensome requirements” in other countries but will their GRC equivalents still be accepted elsewhere, here in UK for example? The list of countries that are currently accepted is

• Australia – only includes the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia
• Belarus
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• China
• Croatia
• Cuba
• Republic of Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Estonia
• Georgia
• Germany
• India
• Iran
• Italy
• Japan
• Kazakhstan
• Mongolia
• Montenegro
• Namibia
• Panama
• Romania
• Slovakia
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Sri Lanka
• Sweden
• Taiwan
• Turkey
• Ukraine
• United States of America – only includes Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin

Argentina, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay aren’t on it.

From
www.gov.uk/government/publications/gender-recognition-certificate-list-of-approved-countries-and-territories/gender-recognition-certificate-list-of-approved-countries-and-territories

I know that I am not adding anything to the conversation but I struggle to take seriously any country that has Selbstbestimmungsgesetz as a word.

Aw no, I love German's portmanteau approach!

<joins Arabella on the hill of portmanteau words/compound nouns - or perhaps that should be der Zusammengesetzeshauptwerthügel…>

(My instinct is always to use der Bühl for hill, but der Hügel is such a pleasing word it seemed a pity not to use it. Especially as it alliterates. Who doesn’t love alliteration?!)

I do object to gloves being handshoes though - they are very obviously handsocks. Shoddy compounding, frankly.

It also seems likely to me that the people at Duden were getting kickbacks from the Danube steamship people &/or the tourist boards for Bayern & Baden-Württemberg 🤔

Some compound nouns are not only magnificent, but they also lack an English equivalent: we’ve adopted Schadenfreude, I think it’s time we did the same with [das] Backpfeifengesicht… Lots of German insults (apologies for article’s lack of articles, is really quite painful) are compound nouns…

Oh my word, those are amazing! Thank you.

(Although now I feel slightly ashamed for parking in the shade.)

Will do my damnedest to work Teletubbyzurückwinker into conversation.

It's hard to believe that any government could be so collectively stupid as to not realise that making one's legally recognised sex a matter of personal choice for each individual citizen would effectively destroy all protection under sex discrimination laws as well as provision for single sex spaces and services.

So it must be that they don't care, because they think sex discrimination laws are no longer necessary (because feminism has gone too far already), and anyone who wants single sex spaces and services is an old-fashioned prude who needs re-education.

Well, Human Rights Watch seems happy to sit back and pat these governments on the head, so everything must be hunky-dory. 🙄

@ArabellaScott - to be fair, between the amount of drive-by scoldings we get on FWR & the way TRAs comport themselves in general… 🤷🏻‍♀️

From ForWomenScot newsletter:
"DEMO AT THE GERMAN CONSULATE, EDINBURGHGermany recently passed the Gender Self-Determination Act which comes into force on 1st November. In solidarity with our German sisters who will be protesting, along with women in many other countries, we will be returning to the German Consulate in Edinburgh to demonstrate. Please join us outside 16 Eglinton Cres, Edinburgh, EH12 5DG from 11:45am on Friday 1st November. (Please note the updated time of demo since our previous newsletter. )"

Also, MrMenno has a good 2 minute summary:

Possibly Germany might be removed from the acceptance list by the UK? Would give the German politicians a hint...

Has anyone seen%read anything about juridical action against the SBGG? Immediately after the parliamentary vote, there was talk about asking the Opposition to use parliamentary tools, or to have the Constitutional Court review the SBGG. But I haven't heard news in some time....

I can't get on Twitter - can anyone confirm that there is going to be similar event outside Manchester's German embassy please?