Under a new law adopted late in December, German citizens now have the legal right to identify themselves as a third gender classified as “diverse” under the regulation, which gives those who wish to do so the right to choose a gender identity that is neither female or male.
Intersex is a term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that does not easily characterized as male or female.
For example, a person might be born appearing to be
female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside.
Intersex conditions were rarely disclosed, and many people were not aware that they were born intersex until they became teenagers. In some cases the physical changes they underwent at puberty did not match the sex in which they had been raised.