Refusal of German authorities to record a transgender parent as mother on birth certificate of child to whom she had not given birth did not violate the Convention
EUROPE: TRANSGENDER PARENTS
European Court of Human Rights, judgment, 4 February 2023, A.H. and Others v. Germany (application no. 7246/20)
«The case concerned three applicants, the first of whom is a transgender parent (A.H.), who complained that the civil registration authorities had refused to record the first applicant in the register of births as mother of the third applicant (L.D.H.) on the grounds that A.H. had not given birth to the child – to whom G.H. (the second applicant) had given birth – who had in fact been conceived with A.H.’s sperm. The Court found that, in line with the intention of the German legislature, the former gender and former forename of a transgender parent had to be indicated not only where the birth had taken place before the recognition of the parent’s gender change had become final but also where, as in the present case, the child had been conceived or born after the gender reclassification. Having regard to the fact that the first applicant (A.H.) was the parent of the third applicant (L.D.H.) had not been called into question, and there were few scenarios where the first applicant’s transgender identity could be revealed upon presentation of the child’s birth certificate (on which she was recorded as father), also taking account of the discretion (“margin of appreciation”) afforded to the respondent State, the Court found that the German courts had struck a fair balance between the rights of the first and second applicants (A.H. and G.H.), the interests of the third applicant (L.D.H.), considerations as to the child’s welfare and the public interests at stake.»
Direct link to the judgment (hudoc.echr.coe.int)
Direct link to the press release (hudoc.echr.coe.int)
Gender Law Newsletter FRI 2023#2, 01.06.2023 - Newsletter abonnieren