Since the Self-Determination Act came into force in November 2024, Berlin has seen 2,407 people officially change their gender or waive their gender registration, according to a report based on a parliamentary inquiry by the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
The new law sparked outrage as, on November 1st, 2024 protestors gathered at German embassies worldwide, with women in over 25 countries voicing opposition to the Self-Determination Act, arguing it endangers children and women’s rights by allowing gender changes as early as age five and imposing penalties for ‘misgendering.’
Since then, strikingly, 194 of these cases involve children and adolescents, including one four-year-old and 31 minors under 14.
The law allows anyone to change their gender through a simple personal declaration at the registry office, without medical reports or court procedures. A fee of €35.50 applies, with additional costs for updating official documents. The Self-Determination Act—pushed through by Germany’s traffic light coalition—has effectively removed safeguards that previously ensured children’s decisions were carefully reviewed.
According to a report by the BZ newspaper, gender changes were most common in the districts of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Neukölln. Among adults, 1,420 changed from ‘male’ to ‘female’ or vice versa, while 488 switched to ‘diverse,’ and another 488 opted to remove their gender registration entirely. In a sign of potential resistance to gender ideology, seven individuals later reverted to the original male or female entry in their records.
