Section 1741 of the German Civil Code grants all married couples the right to adopt children.

The ability for same-sex couples to legally adopt a child.

Same-sex couples in Germany can legally adopt a step-child, biological or not of the other partner.

The age of consent of 14 years is equal for everyone.

The difference between legal age of consent for homosexual sex and heterosexual sex.

On April 1 2023, the Transfusion Act (Transfusionsgesetz, TFG) was amended to fully remove restrictions on blood donations by MSMs. 
Accordingly, the amendment to the law obliged the German Medical Association to subsequently adapt the blood donation guidelines within four months in agreement with the Paul Ehrlich Institute, Germany’s medical regulatory body.

The ability for MSMs (men who have sex with men) to donate blood or tissue for organ transplants. A deferral period refers to a waiting time before a man can donate after having sex.

On September 24, 2021, new guidelines were introduced. Men in monogamous relationships with men can donate blood with no deferral. 
 
However, men who have sex with men outside of a monogamous relationship still face a 4 month deferral.

Article 5 of the German Basic Law guarantees freedom of press, speech and opinion.

Censorship or prohibition of discussing, promoting, or teaching LGBTQ+ topics in media, schools, and in the general public.

The Self-Determination Act (Selbstbestimmungsgesetz) allows transgender, non-binary, and intersex people to change their legal first names and gender entry once a year through self-identification. 
 
From the age of 14, minors may make the declaration themselves with the consent of their guardians; to protect the personal rights of young people, the family court can replace the parents&#39; decision at the request of the minor in cases where the custodians do not consent, based on the best interests of the child. 
Children under 14 will need their parents or guardians to make a registry office application on their behalf. 
For the declaration to be effective, the registry office must be notified of the upcoming declaration at least 3 months and at most 6 months before the declaration is made. 
 
Outing or deadnaming one against their will in a way that caused them harm can be punished with a fine of up to €10,000. 
 
If the gender entry is changed from &#34;male&#34; to another and &#34;a case of tension or defense&#34; arises within two months after the change, the person will still be considered male for military conscription. 
 
People who went through the previous process can apply for monetary compensation.

Legal recognition of a change in gender by permitting a change on an individual's legal documentation.

Following the amendment of the Act on the Amendment of Names and Sex Determination in Special Cases, known as the Law on Transsexuality (1981) by Judgment No. 1 BvR 3295/07 (2011) of the Federal Constitutional Court, the criteria for changing the name or both the name and the gender marker were unified. Currently, the law requires applicants to (i) prove that &#34;due to their transsexual status, they do not feel comfortable with their sex registered at birth&#34;, (ii) they have lived for at least three years &#34;in accordance with the gender they identify with&#34; and (iii) that their &#34;situation of transexuality is foreseeably stable&#34;. This procedure is carried out before a municipal judge, which has to verify that these requirements are met by subjecting the applicant to an examination carried out by two expert witnesses &#34;specialised in transsexualism&#34;. (ILGA) 
 
In 2017, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSJ) commissioned the Humboldt University in Berlin to prepare an expert opinion on the &#34;need for regulation and reform for transgender people&#34;. 
It found that the current assessment procedure is in many cases characterized by disproportionate time and expense as well as degrading and discriminatory experiences and violates the fundamental rights of the applicants. 
 
The non-governmental organization Deutsche Gesellschaft für Transidentität und Intersexualität e.V. (dgti) issues a supplemental ID card which contains one&#39;s self-chosen first names, pronouns and gender before a legal name change has taken place. It is known and accepted by German ministries, the police, and many authorities. The supplemental ID card is often a condition to correct one&#39;s name at, among others, schools, universities, banks and insurance companies. In five German states, references to the ID have been included in coronavirus ordinances and associated explanations to recognize it as an identification document, e.g., together with vaccination certificates. 
It has a special status of recognition in Germany. The legal basis of the supplemental ID card is the implementation of the request of the European Parliament, communicated in the 11th legislative period of the German parliament. 
 
When the Self-Identification law was introduced, people who went through this old process could apply for a monetary compensation.

Section 8 § 1 of the German Transsexuellengesetz (Transsexuals Act of September 10, 1980) states that transgender people can change their first names and gender entry under the condition of gender-affirming surgery, sterilization, and divorce.

During the Nazi regime, transgender people were targeted repeatedly and were de facto criminalised under Paragraphs 175 and 183, which were used to prosecute people for homosexuality or cross-dressing. Previously respected &#34;transvestite passes&#34; which exempted trans people from Paragraph 183 were promptly ignored and revoked. 
 
Trans people would also be targeted in the Holocaust although they were often grouped as gay men, leaving the death toll of trans victims unknown. 
 
However some trans people could avoid the worst of Nazi persecution provided they were not Jewish and weren&#39;t considered homosexual (which was based on the assumption of an attraction to the birth sex they were assigned as). An example includes a transgender lesbian known as R. who was considered to be Aryan, non-homosexual and a good worker by the Nazis and got arrested in 1938 but released two years later under the assumption she would detransition. However she did not and was then forced to undergo conversion therapy until her death in 1943. 
 
After the fall of the Nazis, Germany did not grant legal gender recognition until 1980.

From 1908 until 1933, transvestite passes were handed out to trans and cross-dressing Germans as a de facto recognition of their gender identity or expression. However there were no known provisions that legally changed one&#39;s gender. These were revoked when the Nazis came to power.

The Law for the Protection Against Conversion Treatments (KonvBehSchG) bans providing, arranging and advertising conversion therapy. Conducting conversion therapy on minors, or persons of legal age is those whose consent was obtained without their volition, is also explicitly banned. 
 
Providing, arranging or advertising conversion therapy is punishable by a fine up to €30,000. 
Carrying out conversion therapy on a minor, or an adult whose consent was obtained without their volition, is punishable by up to a year of imprisonment or a fine.

Legal status of conducting sexual orientation changing therapy ("ex-gay" therapy)

National law was amended in 2006 when the Treaty of Amsterdam was signed - giving all people the same rights under law. 
 
The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany clarified in 1 BvR 2019/16 that the general right of personality (Article 2 (1) in conjunction with Article 1 (1) of the Basic Law) protects gender identity. It also protects the gender identity of non-binary people. 
Article 3 (3) of the Basic Law includes non-binary people on the protection against discrimination on ground of their gender.

Prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Due to Germany being a Federal Republic many states have had anti-discrimination laws as early as 1992. But by signing the Treaty of Amsterdam (EU) Germany amended its national anti-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation.  

Prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity in employment, including hiring, promotion, termination, harassment, etc.

The cost for gender affirming care in Germany is covered by public health insurance. 
 
Condition for hormone therapy is a letter of indication from a psychotherapist, 
voice therapy a letter of indication from a medical professional, 
epilation of hair (laser/needle) 6 months of psychotherapy of 12/24 sessions with 50/25 minutes each (10 hours in total), 
mastectomy 10 hours of psychotherapy, 
genital surgeries 10 hours of psychotherapy and one year of “daily life test”, 
breast augmentation 10 hours of psychotherapy, 2 years of hormone therapy, and a breast size of smaller than an A cup, 
facial and vocal feminization, tracheal shave and rib section are approved in an appraisal process with the medical service if “the appearance is not yet sufficiently adjusted” after one year. 
 
Restrictions and prominence post-war through the 1970s are unclear but believed to be legally unrestricted.

Medical and psychological support designed to help individuals transition to the gender they identify with, including hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and surgeries.

With the rise of the Nazi regime, transgender healthcare is banned, and the Berlin Institute for Sexual Science is closed; 
the Nazi regime implements laws §§ 175 183, targeting LGBTQ+ individuals,

In 1919 the non-profit foundation Institute for Sexual Science was founded in Berlin by Magnus Hirschfeld, becoming the first sexology research center in the world. 
The institute provided a range of endocrinologic and surgical services, including an early form of modern sex reassignment surgery in 1931. 
Ludwig Levy-Lenz, the institute's primary surgeon for transgender patients, pioneered early facial feminization and masculinization procedures, alongside developing hair removal treatments utilizing the institute's X-ray facility.

Germany fully repealed section 175 of the German Criminal Code and legalized homosexual activity in 1994.

Consensual sexual activity between individuals of the same sex.

Section 175 of the Criminal Code was relaxed for persons over 21 years in East Germany in 1968, with West Germany following suit in 1969. However, although this meant that homosexual activity between men was decriminalized, it was not made legal.

In 1968, East Germany decriminalised homosexuality. However it remained illegal in West Germany until 1969.

After World War II, the Nazi-era version of Section 175 remained in force in both East and West Germany. Punishments included imprisonment, however, the death penalty was no longer applied. 
 
East Germany would decriminalise homosexuality in 1968 followed by West Germany the next year.

Section 175 of the Criminal Code was amended during Nazi rule to create harsher penalties for homosexual behavior between men. Imprisonment was to range from three months to ten years in prison. Many homosexual men died in the Nazi concentration camps they were sent to.

Section 175 of the Criminal Code of the German Empire criminalized homosexual activity between men over the age of 18. 
The penalty was imprisonment or a loss of civil rights.

Section 1 of the General Act on Equal Treatment (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG) prohibits discrimination on housing.

Prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity when applying for housing or discrimination by landlords / property owners.

German law prohibits intersex surgery on infants. However, intersex rights campaigners have criticised the law for having too many loopholes caused by ambiguous wording and for not defining any penalties for those who perform unauthorised surgery.

Medical interventions performed on intersex infants to alter their genital appearance to conform to typical male or female standards, often without the informed consent of the child who is too young to participate in the decision-making process.

Until 2021, intersex infants were not protected from unnecessary surgical genital modification in Germany.

A bill for marriage equality passed the Bundestag on 30 June 2017 and the Bundesrat on 7 July, becoming law on 1 October. 
Paragraph 1353 of the German Civil Code.

Marriage and marriage recognition between two people of the same biological sex and/or gender identity.

Germany recognizes civil unions and provides tax benefits to couples in a civil union.

Article 3 (1) of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany and Article 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms protect against unequal treatment on grounds of sexual orientation. 

The ability for homosexuals to serve in the military and be open about their sexuality.

The Self-Determination Act (Selbstbestimmungsgesetz) applies (see: right to change legal gender).

Legal recognition of non-binary, genderqueer, or third gender identities.

The Civil Status Act (PStG) was amended to include Parapraph 45b to allow intersex people to identify themselves as "diverse" ("divers") or remove the gender entry.

Germany

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