The end of the Middle Ages, or the activism of the constitutional court? Politicians face a difficult debate on gender change

Gender reassignment will no longer require surgery, the Constitutional Court has decided. A number of politicians, especially from the SPOLU coalition, welcomed the intervention of the Constitutional Court, some of them described the current practices in this area as medieval. However, some politicians point out that after the intervention of the Constitutional Court, they will have to deal with the question of gender change altogether, because the court’s ruling breaks down the clear boundary that has been given so far. For example, independent senator Zděněk Hraba described the court’s decision as activist and will want to establish an age limit. The chairman of the KDÚ-ČSL parliamentary club, Aleš Dufek, made a similar statement. In addition to the age limit, he also wants to set up clear mechanisms for the gender change process, rejecting, for example, the German model, where it is enough to report the gender change at the office. Lawyer Jakub Kříž told Echo24 that, according to him, the ruling of the Constitutional Court will lead to a number of other changes in various areas of law and pointed out that legislators face a gallows deadline for comprehensive changes to laws.

“This deserves a celebration! The Constitutional Court sent the condition of sterilization of trans persons for official sex change to where it belongs – to the past. Finally! It is a completely barbaric practice that belongs somewhere in the Middle Ages,” said Klára Kocmanová, MP for the Pirates, for example, on the X social network. According to her, the state should not intervene in people’s lives more than is necessary, and she called it unacceptable that the state interferes with the reproduction of the given people in the event of a sex change.

The Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan (STAN), for example, reacted similarly. According to him, sterilization due to official sex change does not belong in the 21st century. “The Constitutional Court ruled in favor of human dignity. I am very happy about this, the abolition of the condition of surgical intervention including sterilization during official sex change is something that I have supported and advocated for a long time. It does not belong to Europe of the 21st century,” said the Austrian. The Constitutional Court came to the view that sterilizations violate human dignity and bodily integrity and are thus in conflict with human rights in its decision, by which it annulled the parts of the Civil Code and the Health Act that make sex change a condition of the procedure. And this with effect from the middle of 2025, by which time the legislators have to come up with amendments to the mentioned laws.

However, legislators will have to agree on how they will implement the changes in the laws. Indeed, the Constitutional Court has declared unconstitutional surgery, which is currently necessary for gender reassignment. Legislators will thus have to deal with new rules and barriers for change. In an interview with Echo24, the chairman of the People’s Party parliamentary club, Aleš Dufek, drew attention to this. “For me, firstly, the lower age limit of 18 is very important, and secondly, that it is not like in Germany, i.e. that people can go to the office and re-register without any supporting medical opinions,” said Dufek. At the same time, however, he pointed out that he is not yet familiar with the details and the court has only decided on what a person does not have to undergo. “It’s a court decision. The court’s decision must be respected, no matter what it decides,” said Dufek. He thus expects a debate on legislative changes in this area.

Independent senator Zdeněk Hraba described the court’s decision as activist on social media shortly after the announcement of the award. “Of course, the decision of the Constitutional Court must be respected. The second thing is that it will be dealt with by legislation that must be adopted by June next year, and I think that a discussion will now open about what Czech society actually wants. If he wants to have it fixed that the father is a man or the mother is a woman or, on the contrary, the activist approach that even men can give birth, because if there is no surgical sex change, then unfortunately this option is also permissible. And I think the Constitutional Court was aware that it would have these consequences,” Hraba told Echo24.

At the same time, Hraba criticized the words of Judge Jirsa, who stated in the ruling that the Constitutional Court wants to be a catalyst for discussion on this topic with this decision. Personally, I think, what I read from the judge-rapporteur, Dr. Jirsa, that the Constitutional Court should open some discussion, I think that is not the role of the Constitutional Court. It does not follow from the constitution or from the law on the constitutional court to initiate a discussion on this topic,” said Hraba. He also told Echo24 that the Czech Republic should definitely not follow the example of Germany and that a court should be involved in the gender change process. He also refuses hormone treatment for people under 18 years of age.

Lawyer Jakub Kříž, who deals, for example, with bioethics, spoke to the Echo24 newspaper about the fact that legislators will now have to deal with the matter quickly, and pointed out on his blog that constitutional judges dealt with a similar case two years ago. The difference compared to today’s case was mainly that at that time a similar possibility was demanded by a person identifying himself as non-binary. He also draws attention to the fact that in the then case, which the Constitutional Court ultimately decided not to deal with, there was sharper dissent from the judges. Now, judges Fiala and Hulmák applied dissenting opinions. According to Kříž, this indicates a lesser diversity of opinion on the part of the court. He also commented on the possible consequences of the finding at the legislative level.

“It will definitely have ramifications across the law. For example, in the issue of prisons, in sports, it is actually a cross-cutting issue. Wherever the gender category is considered, the matter needs to be reconsidered. For example, the adjustment of parentage, the principle currently applies that the mother of the child is the woman who gave birth to it, and a man could give birth in this way. The question of military service, prison for the execution of a sentence, in what kind of prison, under what conditions,” said Kříž, a few examples that legislators will have to deal with.

“When you consider how long the legislative process is, basically the government should present the law in two to three months, because the legislative process takes a year or two before the legislative amendment is passed. He didn’t give the legislators much time for how complex this topic is,” said Kříž.