▸ 

1981 in LGBT Rights

View All Years

In 1981, there were 5 recorded legal changes made affecting LGBT people. In the previous year, there were 22 changes made and 15 in the following year. A total of 182 legal changes were made in the 1980s.

  • January 1
    Same-sex adoption becomes illegal.
    The Law on Marriage and Family Relations adopted on June 5, 1980 also recognized two categories of adoption: "incomplete adoption" and "full adoption". In the first case, adoptive parents could be both individuals and married partners (Article 157). In the second case, adoptive parents are married partners, and exceptionally unmarried persons if there are justified reasons for that (Article 191).
  • (date unknown)
    Right to change legal gender becomes legal, but requires medical diagnosis.
    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 "due to their transsexual status, they do not feel comfortable with their sex registered at birth", (ii) they have lived for at least three years "in accordance with the gender they identify with" and (iii) that their "situation of transexuality is foreseeably stable". 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 "specialised in transsexualism". (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 "need for regulation and reform for transgender people". 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'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'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.
  • LGBT employment discrimination becomes sexual orientation and gender identity.
    As of 1981, Employment discrimination was outlawed as well as LGBTQ discrimination.
  • January 1
    Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    For sex between men aged 21 or over.
  • (date unknown)
    LGBT discrimination becomes illegal.
    Section 5 of the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination on the grounds of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression bans discrimination towards LGBTQ+ persons. Norway was the first country in the world to enact a law against the discrimination of LGBT people by amending Paragraph 349a of the Norwegian Penal Code. In the same year Paragraph 135a was amended to prohibit hate speech directed at sexual minorities.

LGBT Organizations Founded in 1981