Lysander Laier is transsexual
Lysander Laier has been a member of the Würzburg City Council for two years. In the time before that, he was involved in the Green Youth and in refugee policy. His commitment was rewarded. The youth section of the Greens elected him to the board.
Now he is making headlines again with his coming out. The 24-year-old Green Party politician is transsexual.
Among other things, he spoke with the station TV Mainfranken about this important step. With Lysander, another person who is in the public eye has come out as queer. He should have given courage to many others. But how do his party colleagues actually react? And how was the outing received by the public?
Laier has been uncomfortable for years
During the interview with TV Mainfranken, Laier gave deep insights into his "gender crisis" and reported in detail about his transsexuality.
Half a year ago he had his first coming out in front of a limited circle of people. A little later followed his public statement. By the way, many transsexual people realize already in childhood that they were born in the wrong body and therefore often start to dress differently to find themselves.
With Lysander Laier, however, it was completely different. Because he was quite late aware that he is transsexual. He only felt that he was very uncomfortable in his body during the last years and therefore started a conversation with a transsexual friend whom he could confide in. Only this conversation made him aware that he might be transsexual.
Shortly after, he tried a new look. Male clothes and short hair made him feel good and he realized more and more that he was transsexual.
In professional terms, he was already able to enjoy a great deal of support. Many of his party members feel that his outing was courageous and naturally support the Green local politician even now. In addition, many regard this topic as "private" anyway. This means that Lysander's coming out is completely important and fine, but not relevant to his work.
Laier's coming out does not negatively affect his career
Laier feared that he would no longer be taken seriously as a politician after coming out. However, this fear has not been confirmed. Both party colleagues and female colleagues are behind him. Many also congratulated him on this courageous step.
And if the Self-Determination Act eventually passes, Laier also plans to have his deadname changed. How long it will take before exactly that is possible remains to be seen. Even though the traffic light coalition has repeatedly expressed a positive attitude towards said law, there are still some obstacles to overcome here.
One of the main criticisms of the current situation is that it is still very difficult for transsexual people to have their gender officially changed - for example in their identity documents. The procedure that has to be gone through here is lengthy and often also very expensive. In addition, those affected are confronted with many questions about themselves and their sexual behavior and feel discriminated against in the course of the procedure.
However, the aforementioned Self-Determination Act is intended to change just that. And Lysander Laier should also benefit from this.
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