German MP Tessa Ganserer comes out as transgender

German MP Tessa Ganserer has come out as transgender and is set to return to work after transitioning to female.

The Green Party lawmaker, who sits in the regional Bavarian parliament, appeared presenting as a woman for the first time at a January 14 press conference, before the chamber begins its new session.

Ganserer was first elected to the chamber in 2013 while presenting as male, and won re-election in October’s regional elections under her former name, Markus Ganserer.

She is the first out transgender person to sit in a regional or national Parliament in Germany, according to AFP.

Tessa Ganserer: Outdated transgender laws need updating

Ganserer said her experience of transitioning had demonstrated the need for Germany to update the 1980 Transsexual Act, which provides a convoluted process for trans people to change their legal name and gender.

Tessa Ganserer, member of the Greens party and member of the Bavarian state parliament, comes out as trans at a press conference in Munich, on January 14, 2019. (CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty)

Ganserer said: “Gender identity is a human right… in future it should be possible for a person to apply to change their gender recorded at birth.”

The 41-year-old explained she has known she is transgender for a decade, adding: “I am not doing this for fun… I didn’t choose to be a woman.”

‘Brave’ transgender MP Tessa Ganserer praised by Parliament head

CSU politician Ilse Aigner, President of the Bavarian Parliament, has expressed her support for Ganserer’s right to transgender, and made clear that the politician should be regarded as female in the Parliament.

Aigner said: “[Her gender identity] should not be a problem in this house.

“A person’s personality is always more important than their gender. Mrs Ganserer has taken a very brave and highly personal decision.”