The transgender woman Tessa Ganserer will appear on the ballot paper for the 2021 federal election under her maiden name Markus Ganserer. Her female first name Tessa will be in brackets. The Bavarian state election committee decided on Friday, as confirmed by a spokeswoman for the State Statistical Office in Fürth. The Green politician, currently a member of the state parliament in Bavaria, could be one of the first transgender people to move into the Bundestag. Her 13th place on the list with the Bavarian Greens is largely certain. With a nationwide election result of 8.9 percent, Bavaria’s Greens brought eleven parliamentary group members to the Bundestag four years ago. The polls see the party more than double two months before the September 26 election.
Ganserer herself considers the use of her maiden name to be discriminatory. The transsexual law, on which the regulation is based, is unconstitutional, a change or amendment has been delayed for ten years, she criticized on Friday in an interview with the German press agency. According to the current law, she would have to undergo a lengthy and expensive appraisal process, which she finds degrading, in order to change her name and gender before the law. A corresponding lawsuit is pending at the Nuremberg Local Court. In her case, Ganserer considers such a procedure to be obsolete. Overall, the state election committee approved the state lists of 26 parties and political groups for the federal election on Friday.
© SZ from July 31, 2021 / dpa