Julia becomes Julian and wants to get rid of the sex: the case provokes a debate

Julia was born in 1989 in a small town in Aargau. The baby has a biological quirk. The sex cannot be clearly determined. It is neither male nor female, but intersex. An estimated 1.7 percent of the world’s population is affected. In Switzerland that is 150,000 people, twice as many as in the city of St. Gallen.

However, all parents must inform the registry office within three days of the birth and choose between “male” and “female”. Even if a baby does not fit into the schedule, an M or an F should be chosen.

An F is registered for Julia in the register of civil status. The letter has many implications. It is used for official identification, is crucial for military service and shapes one’s role in society.

Julia chooses a career in art and excels in her master’s degree. Critics describe her work as “fascinating”. On stage she appears as an inconspicuously dressed woman. When photographed, she smiles sheepishly. Her look says she prefers to see her art in the foreground. You can’t see it bubbling inside. Their self-image does not match their appearance.

In Berlin, the procedure was completed in one day

At thirty, Julia takes the big step. She now lives in Berlin and goes to the registry office. There she submits a medical certificate confirming a “variant gender development” and requests a name change and deletion of her gender entry.

Germany is one of the countries that recognize a third gender. Additional clarifications are therefore not necessary. The civil registry will notarize the changes on the same day.

Julia is now called Julian and no longer has a gender in the German register of civil status. No F, no M, no X. The entry is just empty. This matches Julian’s gender identity. The same soft facial features are recognizable in stage images as before. But now there is a fluff around the chin.

Some of the intersex people find a new binary gender identity as a trans person and change the letter in the civil registry. But like Julian, 60 percent describe themselves as non-binary.

Gender and name changes are also possible in Switzerland since 2022 without any hassle. However, there is still no third option besides male and female. That’s why Julian still has an F in the Swiss register of civil status. Is that still current?

The debate is not only relevant for the minority concerned. Because if it is recognized that there is also something between woman and man, structures that make up society are called into question.

That’s why the opposition is so fierce. Opponents warn: “At some point everyone feels the way they want, and we have a hundred genders.” This is actually the stated goal of a queer movement, which has recently entered the public eye with prominent faces in the form of model Tamy Glauser and literary star Kim de l’Horizon.

While the Julian case was settled within a day in Germany, it launched a three-year process in Switzerland. Through the Swiss embassy in Berlin, Julian has requested that the changes be adopted in his home country. The new first name is quickly approved. But the gender removal triggers a long process that will be decided by federal court on June 8.

In 99 percent of cases, the Federal Supreme Court makes its decisions in written procedures. The Julian case is one of the exceptions and is being discussed in public because opinions differ in court. Here too, Julian does not want to focus on the personal, but on the business. The non-binary person is requesting anonymous reporting and has chosen the pseudonym Julian herself.

Julian does not want to comment on his own story. As much: “I wish for a society where removing a gender entry can be a personal decision, based on one’s own urgency, without having to explain or be attacked for it.”

It involves a special case: international recognition

The legal procedure only has a chance of success because of the special constellation. If Julian lived in Switzerland, the case wouldn’t stand a chance. However, Switzerland recognizes foreign decisions, even if they conflict with its own law. Recognition is only refused if fundamental values ​​of the Swiss legal system – the ‘Ordre public’ – are violated in an intolerable way.

An example: minors are not allowed to get married in Switzerland. However, foreign marriages involving minors can be recognized if they are over 16 years old.

In Julian’s case, the question arises: would removing the gender statement violate the local justice system in an unacceptable way?

Yes, says the Interior Department of the Canton of Aargau. The Swiss Registry management is exclusively based on the binary system. There is no legal basis for a deviation. This should first be created politically.

Julian challenged this decision at the Aargau High Court and was right. The court found a contradiction to the local legal system, but not unacceptable. Because there has been an opening in society for a third gender. It is the first verdict of this kind in Switzerland. The Federal Public Service Justice has lodged a complaint against this. The case is now in federal court.

If Julian loses, a move to the European Court of Human Rights can be expected. Because Julian doesn’t fight alone. The Transgender Network Switzerland is financing the process with CHF 45,000 from crowdfunding. However, there is a good chance that Julian will be right in Lausanne.

The importance of gender is overrated

Thomas Geiser is Professor Emeritus of Private Law at the University of St. Gallen and previously served as a part-time Federal Supreme Court Justice. He has studied the Aargauer judgment and, when asked, describes it as “very correct” and “carefully reasoned”. He says: “It is indeed difficult to argue that a regulation that is now a reality in our neighboring countries is contrary to ‘public order’.”

He also makes a surprising statement: “The law does not define what is meant by gender and what genders there are.” It does not present a binary system and does not require you to enter a gender. Consequently, the change of the gender entry, which has been simplified for a year, can also consist of changing it by simply deleting it.

Changes in this area are often initiated by the judiciary. In Germany, Austria or Belgium, the highest courts were the first to recognize non-binary gender identities. In Switzerland, scrapping gender information that took place abroad would only be a small step. However, this can speed up a process that is already underway.

The Federal Council has just declared its readiness to seek solutions for the recognition of non-binary persons. The administration is already preparing its systems for the new possibilities. The legal consequences have not been clarified. For example: does the conscription apply to non-binary people?

Julian believes that outdated laws need to be changed and says: “What used to be controversial, such as women’s suffrage, can seem taken for granted in a few generations.” (aargauerzeitung.ch)