A male German police officer in Düsseldorf is facing charges of attempted fraud for legally changing his identity to female, allegedly in order to secure a promotion.
The officer, who is in his mid-thirties, changed his name from Peter to Maria Kleine last May. Germany’s Self-Determination Act went into effect in November 2024, and thus changing genders was a simple matter of some paperwork at a local registry office, after which Peter informed the police department that he was now Maria so they could update their records accordingly.
The Self-Determination Act, which was passed in order to streamline the process of legally changing identity for Germans who identify as transgender, intersex, or “non-binary,” was strongly criticized because it essentially permitted anybody to change their gender on a whim and without any standard of evidence – a self-declaration with no paperwork or third-party assessment. The LGBT movement condemned these critiques as “transphobic.”
Peter, however, is now being accused of becoming Maria exclusively for the purpose of career advancement; becoming a woman bumped him up the promotion list by 43 places and had the potential to increase his salary by €247–€472 monthly. But according to the Irish Times, Kleine’s employer filed charges of attempted fraud only six days after his gender switch.
According to the Irish Times, Düsseldorf police recruitment boards “have been instructed – when presented with two equally-qualified candidates – to favour any female candidate.” The police claimed that Peter had been heard stating that he had become a woman in order to take advantage of this “at multiple times in different settings with colleagues, in an active, explicit and placative way.”
Peter’s lawyer has taken great umbrage to this, insisting that his remark “was intended ironically,” as a rebuke of “insensitive colleagues.” Meanwhile, Peter went from assistant to full commissioner. “You don’t make such a life-changing decision for something like that,” said lawyer Christoph Arnold to the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper.
However, the Irish Times did note – while referring to Peter as a “she” just to be safe – that he had “signaled to colleagues” that he was planning to switch his gender back to male ahead of his wedding. Peter is marrying a woman. At the moment, under German law, Peter is a lesbian – and he has every right to travel back and forth across the gender divide at will.
“The new [self-determination] law is funny because I don’t have to justify the change,” Kleine’s lawyer said. “Thus, it’s impossible to defraud.” In the meantime, Kleine is counter-suing the police department for “queer-hostility” and is accusing them of discrimination against transgender people.
Peter Kleine isn’t the first fellow to realize that there might be benefits to identifying as a woman. Male criminals have been using the transgender boondoggle to their advantage for years, identifying as female in order to get cushier sentences and to get sent to women’s prisons, where they would be locked behind bars with a vulnerable female population. This, predictably, has resulted in many predictable instances of sexual assault. One rape victim was accused of transphobia when she came forward.
There are more humorous examples as well. In 2018, a Canadian man used self-ID laws to identify as a woman on his legal ID to save just over $1,000 monthly on his car insurance. “I’m a man, 100 per cent. Legally, I’m a woman,” he said. “I did it for cheaper car insurance.” And a man in Michigan who “transitioned” to female was livid to discover that as a woman, he would be paying nearly $1,000 a month more.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I hope the German police officer wins his case.
