European Journal of Law Reform
Article

Out of the Box? Domestic and Private International Law Aspects of Gender Registration

A Comparative Analysis of Germany and the Netherlands
Keywords gender identity, sex registration, intersex, transgender, private international law
Authors Dr. Marjolein van den Brink, Dr. iur. Philipp Reuß en Dr. Jet Tigchelaar
Author's information

Dr. Marjolein van den Brink
Dr. Marjolein van den Brink is assistant professor at the Netherlands institute for human rights (SIM), Utrecht University. She participates in the research programme of the Utrecht centre for European research into family law.

Dr. iur. Philipp Reuß
Philipp Reuß, Dr. iur., MJur (Oxford) is research assistant at LMU Munich’s Institute of international law –comparative law.

Dr. Jet Tigchelaar
Dr. Jet Tigchelaar is assistant professor at the Institute of jurisprudence, constitutional and administrative law, Utrecht University. She participates as researcher at the Utrecht centre for European research into family law.

  • Abstract

      The legal regulation of gender identity seems to be in a state of flux. This paper compares the German and Dutch legal systems with regard to the registration of a person’s sex, focusing on the possibility in both countries not to register a baby’s sex until it can be clearly determined. In both systems, it has thus become possible that a person has no specified gender for a considerable period of time. These persons may encounter various kinds of legal problems, since the two jurisdictions have not been adapted to accommodate them. In addition, two potential problems regarding private international law issues are discussed.

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