Germany’s on course to become the first European nation to give people the option of choosing a third gender on their birth certificates.

The country’s top court has ruled intersex people must have a choice if they neither identify as male or female.

The case was heard by the constitutional court in Karlsruhe which heard from a registered female whose chromosome test confirmed they were neither one sex nor the other.

Germany becomes the first country in Europe to officially recognise the third gender https://t.co/WFnh1k0N7G — PinkNews (@PinkNews) November 8, 2017

Judges ruled that current regulations on civil status are discriminatory against intersex people.

That category is likely to be called “inter” or “various”. A spokesperson for the German government said it fully intends to comply with the ruling.

It now has until the end of 2018 to pass a law specifying a category other than male or female.