invisible hands. slavery in the twenty first century. starting december second on d w. this is d w news live from berlin tonight it's a boy it's a girl or neither know what a landmark court ruling means that germany could become the first european country to offer a third gender on birth certificates it's being called a small revolution with the court saying today's by miri gender choices

discriminate against intersex people also coming up in the u.s. voters elect the first openly transgender politician in the state of virginia the democrat danica role as alstad a pro trump incumbent republican democrats are celebrating a sweep of state and local election victories plus reclaiming venice no more large cruise ships allowed in the italian city's historic center venetians have protested against high numbers of tourists as some now say if the visitors go so will their livelihood. i'm breaking off it's good to have you with us germany could become the first european country to allow for a third. on birth certificates the country's top court today ruled that present

laws discriminate against intersex people now those are people who have a mixture of male and female sexual tree the chord said that official documents should either recognize a third gender or remove gender altogether of the change from binary gender choices to three choices takes effect next year. i can hardly believe it the years of fighting for a third gender have finally been rewarded. there are lots of places in society where there's a split between the sexes. so i have to ask myself again and again how do i define myself by trying to fit in or do i trust myself not to do so and how are people going to react and. it's an issue that directly affects vanya and around one hundred sixty thousand other into sex people in germany people who were bought.

i can hardly believe it. the years of fighting for a third gender have finally been rewarded asking for one's form there are lots of places in society where there's a split between the sexes. so i have to ask myself again and again how do i define myself do i try to fit in or do i trust myself not to do so and how are people going to react and. it's an issue that directly affects vanya and around one hundred sixty thousand other intersex people in germany people who were born with male and female features and whose gender can't be identified and that's where the problem starts so far it's only been possible to enter a male or female on the birth register or leave it open. family has campaigned for a third category a third gender like into and the diverse the court has opened the door to that although they've left the exact description open. as. they seek personal rights

also protect the sexual identity of those people who don't define themselves as male female. the current law on civil status infringes on the prohibition of discrimination when you can just because it's not possible to enter anything other than male or female would have ip he used the court has given lawmakers until the end of december twenty eighth seen to draft new rules. well how many transgender how many intersects people do you know if you've never met an openly intersex person the only encounter you may have had with the neither nor gender is probably through the media t.v. for example is a social meet and greet or so is literature or my next guest won a pulitzer prize for his book middlesex that for really the first time gave hywel brow treatment to a topic that became part of american pop culture i'm happy to welcome to the show

jeffrey eugenides he joins us tonight from princeton university in the u.s. . he teaches creative writing geoffrey lived here in berlin i think during the time when he was writing middlesex jeffrey it's good to have you on the show this evening i want to ask you what do you think based look at based on your time here in berlin what do you think it is about germany that made today's ruling possible what is it about germany i don't know i think there's a fair amount of free thinking over there when i wrote middlesex i was living in shone a bit in berlin and right upstairs was the. sexual bit in shock. colin so there was a fair amount of. study and thought going into. what constitutes gender and different variations about it so i think this is something that you can

trace back in germany to the one nine hundred twenty s. . you know investigations and now assess of gender and sexuality trying to figure out trying to understand how we can deal with it as a society so i would i would say that's probably why it's emerging in germany before some other countries want to talk a little bit about your book middlesex it dealt with a hermaphrodite and you know for our viewers out there maybe you aren't familiar with that we're talking about a person who may have the actual the sexual organs both a man and a woman and you write in the book about the the struggles of of that person would you say though that the world that you wrote middlesex in the beginning of this century basically compared to today would you say that those are two different worlds i mean would you be able to write middlesex the way you did back then would

you be able to write that same book today. what i write the book again today i don't usually write about things. after the you know after they've become current i try to get ahead of the head of the ball in that way so i don't think i would write the book now because you've seen so much so much of a topic come out it would be less original less fresh and in a certain way there'd be less need for me to write it i don't think i write in a different way because nothing has changed in terms of the what's in the book the book is a story about one one into sexual slifer and his family and his experiences growing up in detroit and the experiences of his grandparents and parents immigrating from asia minor to america so the be no need to to change the book because fifteen years have passed but i am very surprised at how quickly. the issue has become in the mainstream with middle sex came out i used to have to explain the concept of

gender identity to audiences. i spoke to people didn't even understand that gender could be. different and then once biological sex and the gender was on a continuum and this is not a binary was it was an idea that a lot of people hadn't considered before. things have changed quite rapidly since the book came out there was kind of a lot of resistance in two thousand and two when when the book came out and a lot of people didn't want to read it they thought it was some kind of. story about a freak or something like that and so i'm happy that contributed to a greater understand and any of what these people are like and what they go go through and you know i can only be happy to see that it's starting to have political ramifications pulitzer prize winning author differ you do these tornadoes tonight from the princeton jeffrey thank you very much we appreciate your time tonight. and staying in the united states the democrats are

celebrating victories in several closely watched state and local elections a year into donald trump's presidency the polls are being seen as a test of voter opinion trumps republican party was dealt a major setback in the state of virginia where democrat ralph northam has been elected governor northam netted a decisive victory over republican ed gillespie who had attacked him on divisive issues as immigration gang crime and confederate statues the democrats also won the race for governor in new jersey that went to a former u.s. ambassador to germany and it scored well in local elections scattered across the country. well among the democratic victors in those regional elections is set to become the country's first openly transgender state legislative tour danica rome is a thirty two year old journalist in virginia she just alstad

a pro trump income. celebrating a historic victory in virginia. not tell me is she the first open the transgendered person elected to a u.s. state that just that she also defeated a staunch conservative republican to get that. had sponsored legislation seeking to restrict which bathrooms transgender people can use. but it was algae champion road who came out on top. yeah i am a transgender woman everyone because i am a translator and because i am a reporter because i am a white pointed resume now because of my inherent identifiers that despite them i never ran away from them i championed them one of rome's campaign ads showed how putting on makeup and taking home a. twelve foot for representation for the trans community it was not the focus of her campaign instead she sought with ideas on how to solve local infrastructure

issues. traffic congestion doesn't care what your generated this traffic congestion doesn't care what your sexuality is just doesn't care what your race is just doesn't care or your traffic congestion hates everyone because the chair of congested everyone gets stuck at. rome has at times seemed frustrated by the amount of attention paid to have gender identity. it shouldn't be a revolutionary act to say this is who i am this is why i am well qualified for all the long time local reporter and as a lifelong resident of the district i'm running properties that it's bigger of listening to have to say like and i'm transgender. once the celebrations are over the hard work of office begins rome wants to make the journey a more inclusive but not before she saw that traffic congestion.

are going to rome now where pope francis says snap happy bishops priests and pilgrims telling them mass is a time for prayer not taking photographs francis interrupted his weekly audience at st peter's square to tell the crowd of thousands that the use of cell phones during the ceremony was quote a very ugly thing. it makes me very sad when i celebrate mass here in the. or in the basilica. and i see so many cell phones held up not only by the faithful. but also by some priests and even bishops. during mass the priest says lift up your hearts you know. he does not say lift up your cell phones and take pictures no. no

no i don't think you have to be a catholic to say amen to that. well it is one of the world's most picturesque and popular tourist destinations venice says it will ban a giant cruise ships from steaming past its historic center the controversial decision comes after years of debate over whether the fragile italian city could sustain ever increasing visitor numbers. for tens of thousands of tourists the high point of a mediterranean cruise is going through the narrow canals of venice or lane anchor in view of the piazza san marco and the byzantine the celica the cruise industry has been expanding for years and the multi deck ships are bigger than ever the aim is to economize and pack more people on board at the same time. in this ancient city the trend has long been a source of anger and concern among locals especially conservationists they've been

lobbying against what they consider an invasive presence of giant cruise ships for years saying both the city status as a unesco world heritage site and the ecology of a truly goon are under threat. but now following a meeting between the transport ministry in rome and representatives from venice large cruise ships will be banned in venice its historic city center starting in twenty nineteen the ships will have to take a different route and dock elsewhere in most of the other two to the placebo effect all possible routes and have come up with a realistic alternative. so the nations can expect somewhat calmer days in two years' time but some of them actually dread this prominent voices in the tourism sector say those who depend on visitors fear for their livelihoods. and here's a reminder of our top story germany could become the first e.u. country to allow people to be registered as a third gender the country's top court ruled today that present laws discriminate

against intersex people. and over yet you can always get e.-w. news on the go just download our app from google play or from the apple store that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news you can also use it. to send us photos and videos when you see news happening. you're watching t w news why from berlin for all of us here in berlin thanks for the company we'll see you again at the top of the hour. the. united against climate change. big challenges for the twenty third u.n. climate conference in bali. how were nations working to meet their paris agreement targets cop twenty three this weekend next on the doubling news.