Düsseldorf police have filed a complaint with the public prosecutor against officer Mara Kleine, who legally changed his name from Peter to Mara in May 2025.
The man is alleged to have changed his gender marker to benefit from the police’s gender-based promotion program, reportedly moving up 43 places on the promotion list and potentially advancing from pay grade A9 to A10.
Disciplinary proceedings are suspended pending the prosecutor’s decision. An internal memo claims Kleine admitted using gender reassignment to advance his career, while police chief Miriam Brauns described it as exploiting the self-determination law.
Kleine denies the allegations, saying he has identified as a woman for years and that any remarks were jokes. Police maintain he intended to later reverse his gender marker to marry as a man, calling it a disruption of workplace harmony.
Kleine has filed a lawsuit against the promotion freeze, while the police chief dismissed claims of queerphobia as “absurd.”
The controversy comes after Germany’s radical self-determination act was enforced, allowing gender and name changes via a simple declaration at a registrar’s office.
