Transgender rights in the Federal Republic of Germany are regulated by the Transsexuellengesetz ("Transsexual law")[1] since 1980, and indirectly affected by other laws like the Abstammungsrecht ("Law of Descent").[2] The law initially required transgender people to undergo sex-reassignment surgery in order to have key identity documents changed. This has since been declared unconstitutional.[3] The German government has pledged to replace the Transsexuellengesetz with the Selbstbestimmungsgesetz ("Self-determination law"), which would remove the financial and bureaucratic hurdles necessary for legal gender and name changes.[4] Discrimination protections on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation vary across Germany, but discrimination in employment and the provision of goods and services is in principle banned countrywide.