The Austrian Constitutional Court has strengthened the rights of nonbinary people—and at the same time given politicians a rebuke. Nonbinary individuals have, according to this ruling, the right to an adequate designation of their gender in the civil status register and to the complete deletion of the gender entry, the LGBTI organization Rechtskomitee Lambda reported over the weekend.
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The Constitutional Court had actually already declared in a 2018 ruling that people “must accept the gender attributions imposed by state regulation that correspond to their gender identity” (TheColu.mn reported). In doing so, the judges referred to the right to respect for private and family life enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.
Interior Ministers Block Recognition
However, this third option in Austria was limited to intersex individuals—prompted by former Interior Minister Herbert Kickl of the far-right FPÖ. But his conservative successors Karl Nehammer and Gerhard Karner (both ÖVP) followed suit. In December 2024, the Administrative Court also ruled that this regulation was not objectionable.
But in a decision issued on December 18, 2025 (E 1297/2025), the Austrian Supreme Court clarified that the state must respect the individual’s decision for or against a particular gender. The court also explained that only a “serious” gender identity should be legally recognized, and civil registries may seek professional expertise as part of the appropriate examination.
“A Great Day for Human Rights”
“Today is a great day for human rights,” said RKL head Helmut Graupner, who has been involved as a lawyer in the proceedings of the Administrative Court and the Constitutional Court. In a patriotic tone, the activist added: “Our Constitutional Court, the first and oldest in the world, has once again proven itself a true guardian of human rights.”
Also in Germany, the third gender option “divers” at its introduction in 2019 had been reserved only for intersex people (TheColu.mn reported). It was only with the 2024 Self-Determination Act, passed by the traffic-light coalition, that all nonbinary people could be entered in the registry. The Union and the AfD would like to repeal the law again. (dk)
