Austrian Administrative Court rules civil registry must record sex rather than gender

[GrumpyPanda]

Brand-new ruling by Austria's highest administrative court that can only be appealed to the Constitutional Court. The ruling was in response to a "non binary" person's lawsuit seeking to have their sex classification in rhe civil registry srltricken from the record. Not only did the court strike down that request, it also ruled that as a matter of principle, registry entries may only be based on actual sex and not on proclaimed gender identity. TRAs are predictably up in arms, pointing out that this seems to contradict a couple of decades worth of jurisprudence so more lawsuits are sure to follow.

No coverage in the English-language press so far (or German language bradsheets for that matter), so for lack of a better source I'm pasting machine translated content from Germany's equivalent to Pink News.

https://www.queer.de/detail.php?article_id=52340

Austria: Court bans recognition of trans people www.queer.de Queer people in Austria look on with fear at the far-right FPÖ, which is currently negotiating with the conservative ÖVP to form a new government. Because the FPÖ wants to implement many anti-queer laws like in Hungary. But now it is not the possible FPÖ-ÖVP government that shocks the queer community in Austria, but a ruling by the Administrative Court. "The highest administrative court in Austria is depriving transgender people of their fundamental human right to recognition in their actually lived gender, which has been recognized across Europe for decades," criticizes lawyer Helmut Graupner, president of the Lambda Legal Committee. The Lambda Legal Committee advocates for the rights of queer people in Austria. The current ruling of the Administrative Court is related to the application of a non-binary person. Specifically, the person requested to have their previous gender entry in the Austrian civil registry removed. But this was rejected by the Administrative Court (VwGH). As justification, the VwGH stated, among other things, that the designation of gender is an essential part of personal status data. Furthermore, the VwGH emphasized that "for the registration of gender, the biological, physical gender is fundamentally what matters." Exactly this sentence is causing an uproar not only among legal experts but also within the queer community. "So quickly it can happen." Austria is catapulting itself decades back in terms of human rights!", says queer activist Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic.

For the stipulation that when registering in the civil status register, attention must be paid to the "biological, physical sex" has far-reaching consequences for all trans people in Austria. "In the civil registry as well as in birth certificates, passports, identity cards, and other documents, only the biological, physical gender should be mandatory to be recorded." For trans women, this means the male gender, and for trans men, the female gender," says lawyer Graupner. Austria is thus the fourth country after Russia, Hungary, and Bulgaria to "forbid trans people the legal recognition in their actually lived gender again and thereby severely violate the European Convention on Human Rights." Until now, trans people in Austria needed an expert opinion for the change of their gender entry in the civil registry and for the change of their first name. The expert opinion could be obtained from specialists in psychiatry or from psychotherapists or clinical psychologists. The report had to include a statement indicating that the applicant had a sense of belonging to the other gender and that this was likely to be largely irreversible. Furthermore, the applicant was required to show "a significant approximation to the external appearance" of the other gender. A gender-affirming surgery is not required in Austria for the change of gender entry in the civil registry.

Lawsuit announced before the Constitutional Court

Lawyer Graupner does not want to accept the ruling of the Administrative Court (VwGH). He announced that he would contest the decision before the Austrian Constitutional Court. Because the Constitutional Court explicitly stated in 2018 that people "(only) have to accept those gender assignments through state regulation that correspond to their gender identity," emphasizes Graupner. "We trust that the Constitutional Court will take a decisive stand, end this serious human rights violation, bring Austria back into the community of human rights-compliant countries, and confirm its groundbreaking findings from 2018," said Graupner. Nevertheless, significant changes could soon occur for trans people in Austria if the FPÖ and ÖVP agree to form a new government. Both the FPÖ and ÖVP advocate for a ban on hormone therapies for minors (queer.de reported)."The current hype around gender issues and ideologies is a particular challenge for children and adolescents," stated the ÖVP program for Austria. There is a danger "that minors may be tempted to undergo questionable therapies – with incalculable consequences for their future lives." Therefore, by 2030, there needs to be a "ban on hormone treatments for those under 18, unless there are medical reasons," according to the ÖVP position. Approval comes here from the FPÖ. Queer organizations and medical professionals consider such a ban to be wrong.

The queerphobic FPÖ wants to go even further and demands a trans ban like in Hungary. In the Eastern European country, the constitution was amended so that the birth gender on the birth certificate can no longer be changed retroactively. This massively discriminates against trans and intersex people. Even if FPÖ politicians in Austria demand a similar regulation, they cannot currently implement it. Because for that, the FPÖ and ÖVP need a two-thirds majority in parliament. In Hungary, the ruling party Fidesz has reached this hurdle.

Thanks Grumpy. That is interesting to see.

Thanks for bringing that piece of news to our attention. Very interesting.

Th news just gets better and better. 😀

It will be very interesting to see how the Reality vs Fantasy battle pans out.

Turns out the lawyer who wants to challenge the decision has also published an academic paper advocating for adult-minor relationships.

x.com/el_nagashi/status/1881711331239510266

Completely coincidentally, of course.

GrumpyPanda · Today 20:49

Turns out the lawyer who wants to challenge the decision has also published an academic paper advocating for adult-minor relationships.

Ah, a paedophile advocating for men who want invade women's spaces. I see.

Good news that there's still an option for governments / courts to recognise biological sex

I always found the falsifying of state documents the most unbelievable part of the mad story of transgenderism.

Well, first it’s hard to believe governments around the world would cave in to men’s demands that their fantasies must be validated by everyone. But next, that legal documents such as birth certificates should be legally falsified on demand.

It’s not the worst thing about transgenderism. Not in the same league as children being castrated, rape victims told to ‘reframe their trauma’ etc. But just the most bizarre and inexplicable.

I have been shocked at how low the age of consent is in Austria although maybe I am missing something.