Tessa Ganserer (born Markus Ganserer; 16 May 1977) is a German politician who has served as a member of the
Landtag of Bavaria
The Landtag of Bavaria, officially known in English as the Bavarian State Parliament, is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Bavaria. The parliament meets in the Maximilianeum in Munich.
Elections to the Landtag are held every f ...
since 7 October 2013, representing the constituency of
Middle Franconia
Middle Franconia (german: Mittelfranken, ) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the west of Bavaria and borders the state of Baden-Württemberg. The administrative seat is Ansbach; however, ...
on the
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...
list. During the
2021 German Federal Election
Federal elections in Germany, Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the List of members of the 20th Bundestag, 20th Bundestag. States of Germany, State elections in 2021 Berlin state election, Berli ...
Ganserer was elected to the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
from
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
on the Alliance '90/The Greens list. She took her seat on 26 October 2021. In 2018 Ganserer came out as a transgender woman, becoming the first openly transgender person in a German state or federal parliament.
Early life and career
Tessa Ganserer was born as Markus Ganserer on 16 May 1977 in
Zwiesel
Zwiesel ( cs, Svízel) is a town in the lower-Bavarian district of Regen, and since 1972 is a Luftkurort with particularly good air. The name of the town was derived from the Bavarian word stem "zwisl" which refers to the form of a fork. The fo ...
, Bavaria.
She studied forestry and engineering at
Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Science, graduating in 2005. Later that year she worked as a staffer for German politician Christian Magerl.
[
]
Political career
Early beginnings
Ganserer belongs to Alliance 90/The Greens
Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...
, a green political party, and has been a member since 1998. She ran for a seat in the Landtag of Bavaria in 2008 but was unsuccessful. From 2008 to 2018 she served as the District Executive of the Green Middle Franconia.
State politics
In the 2013 elections, Ganserer was elected in the Nuremberg North electoral district to sit in the Landtag. She sat on the committees for Economic and Media Affairs, Infrastructure, Construction and Transport, Energy and Technology, and as Vice Chair of Public Service from 2013 until 2018.
In December 2018 Ganserer came out as transgender woman, becoming the first member of the Landtag of Bavaria and of a German parliament to be openly transgender. She made her first public appearance as a woman at a press conference in Munich on 14 January 2019. Ilse Aigner
Ilse Aigner (born 7 December 1964) is a German politician and member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU).
Aigner was born in Feldkirchen-Westerham, Bavaria, and entered Angela Merkel's grand coalition cabinet as Federal Minister of ...
, a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German: , CSU) is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity, the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democratic ...
and President of the Landtag of Bavaria
The Landtag of Bavaria, officially known in English as the Bavarian State Parliament, is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Bavaria. The parliament meets in the Maximilianeum in Munich.
Elections to the Landtag are held every f ...
, supported Ganserer in her transition and welcomed her to parliament as a woman. While her gender change has not yet been legally finalized, Ganserer is recognized in the Landtag as a woman.
In 2019, Ganserer pushed for reform to make name changes and sex changes on identity documents more accessible.
National politics
In the 2021 German Federal Election
Federal elections in Germany, Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the List of members of the 20th Bundestag, 20th Bundestag. States of Germany, State elections in 2021 Berlin state election, Berli ...
, Ganserer was elected to the Bundestag on the Alliance 90/The Greens
Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...
list for Bavaria. Because her government records remain unchanged, she was forced to appear on the ballot under her deadname
Deadnaming is the act of referring to a transgender or non-binary person by a name they used prior to transitioning, such as their birth name. Deadnaming may be unintentional, or a deliberate attempt to deny, mock or invalidate a person's gend ...
.Along with fellow Green Nyke Slawik
Nyke Slawik (born January 7, 1994) is a German politician and member of the Bundestag representing the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on the Alliance 90/The Greens list. Upon her election in the 2021 German federal election, Slawik an ...
, Ganserer became the first openly transgender person elected to the German Parliament.
In parliament, Ganserer has been serving on the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection and the Parliamentary Advisory Board on Sustainable Development.
Other activities
* Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation, Deputy Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022)Mitglieder mehrerer Gremien gewählt
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
, press release of 2 June 2022.
Personal life
Ganserer is married to
Ines Eichmüller and has two sons.
Ganserer has not changed her legally recorded name and gender in protest against the
German Transsexual Law, which requires two psychological evaluations by court-appointed evaluators to validate a person's transgender identity. Ganserer has described these as "degrading compulsory appraisals". The law also used to require sterilization, which was deemed unconstitutional by the
Federal Constitutional Court
The Federal Constitutional Court (german: link=no, Bundesverfassungsgericht ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its inc ...
in 2011.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganserer, Tessa
Living people
1977 births
Alliance 90/The Greens politicians
Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025
LGBT legislators in Germany
LGBT members of the Bundestag
Members of the Landtag of Bavaria
People from Regen (district)
Transgender politicians
Transgender women
Women members of State Parliaments in Germany
21st-century German women politicians