Transgender and intersex people who wish to join the Berlin police may be turned away because of the medical treatments they have received.

According to a report in The Local DE, German politician Tom Schreiber made an enquiry to the Berlin city government where he asked “Can applicants to the police and fire service be found unfit for service because they have previously undergone sex reassignment surgery?”



Berndt Krömer from the country’s Christian Democratic Union party, who is responsible for security policy, answered saying that rejection on the grounds of previous medical treatments was likely.

In his answer, Krömer wrote that “an intact andrological or gynaecological hormone system,” would be required of candidates.

He did not specify what part of a person’s “hormone system” would be required in the police force or the fire service.

But he did note that “potential secondary conditions or the need for further operations have to be taken into account” when assessing whether an applicant is medically fit to serve in the Berlin police.

Jörg Steinert from the German Lesbian and Gay Association was outraged by the news, saying “The criteria for determining the fitness for service in police and fire departments are discriminatory.

“Instead of inter- and trans-gender people pathologizing and to exclude an individual service suitability test should take place.

“The Berlin Senate should correct their own hiring practices to that effect. ”

The German Christian Democratic Union party has come under fire from LGBT groups in the country in previous years.

Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkelhas ruled out same-sex marriage in the country for the foreseeable future because she views marriage as being between “a man and a woman living together.”

The majority of the party’s supporters oppose gay marriage according to the results of a poll released earlier this year.