Intersexualität und staatliche Schutzpflichten bei geschlechtszuweisenden Operationen Konsequenzen der Entscheidung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts vom 11. Januar 2011 zur Transsexualität

to sex assignment appeal against infant surgery and for postponing irreparable surgical interventions, based on their own negative experience. As the right to develop one's own gender identity is an intensely personal right, the parents' authority to consent to early sex assignment surgery is to be challenged. The State, as guardian of fundamental rights, has a duty to protect intersexual infants and ensure that their rights are fervently guarded. A legal ban on surgical intervention in infancy would be problematical, as long as medical studies about the treatment of inter sexual infants are lacking. This paper proposes the inclusion of an ethics committee composed of physicians, psychologists and possibly members of intersexual societies in the parental decision-making process, on behalf of intersexual infants, to weigh the risks and effectiveness of treatment in each individual case. Such a procedure would best ensure the child's right to an open future.