“Trans-fascism” and “parasites of society” — these were the kinds of phrases that the right-wing extremist who now identifies as Marla-Svenja Liebich used for decades as a leader of the “Blood and Honor” neo-Nazi group.
In 2023, Liebich was found guilty of incitement to racial hatred and defamation, amongst other crimes. Last year, having exhausted all legal avenues to avoid prison, she was sentenced to serve 18 months in jail. And then, just weeks after a new national gender identity law was introduced in November 2024, Liebich legally registered as a woman.
Last week, she was ordered to begin serving her sentence by a judge in the eastern state of Saxony. While prosecutors declined to confirm to DW her expected date of arrival, they noted that she has exactly two weeks to present herself or risk further prison time. But the location has already been determined: the JVA Women’s Prison in the city of Chemnitz.
Progressive activists and Germany’s new conservative-led government alike suspect Liebich of having made use of a new law to get better prison conditions by being placed in a women’s prison. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the Christian Social Union (CSU) has already decided to reevaluate the new Self-Determination Act, telling Stern magazine that the Liebich case could set a bad precedent for abuse by extremists seeking to mock the government. Günter Krings, who heads the justice portfolio for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU) in parliament, has said that changing one’s legal gender is too easy in Germany.
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‘Long overdue’ change
The Self-Determination Act allows adults to change their legal gender by making a declaration at their local registry office. It replaced the outdated “Transsexuals Act” (TSG) from 1980, which transpeople had long decried for requiring what they saw as humiliating and infantilizing counselling sessions and medical examinations.
The law was part of a progressive push by Germany’s former government, a coalition of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP). It was hailed at the time as a milestone by both the trans community and allies. “It was long overdue,” said Theresa Richarz, a legal expert for Germany’s Federation for Queer Diversity (LSVD), in an interview with DW.
Unfortunately, Richarz said, “Liebich’s case has been used to further the hateful discourse” that characterized the debate around the bill in the Bundestag. “The Self-Determination Act is intended to strengthen the human rights of trans and non-binary persons and protect their fundamental rights.”
“Instead, this individual case ridicules gender self-determination or declares it a danger. This jeopardizes democracy.”
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Conservative calls to amend the law ‘populist and appalling’
For Richarz and other activists, the center-right CDU/CSU bloc are themselves exploiting an individual case to try and roll back hard-won freedoms.
Queer policy spokesperson for Germany’s Green Party, Nyke Slawik, told Der Spiegel that “To want to curtail the fundamental rights of trans, inter, and non-binary people across the board because one person may have abused the Self-Determination Act would be both populist and appalling.”
What, then, of the question that Liebich might pose a danger to fellow inmates, considering her well-documented history of hateful statements? The prison authority (JVA) in Chemnitz told DW that during intake, each new inmate meets with a doctor and a counsellor who may advise that an inmate should be moved to a different prison, or not housed amongst the general population. Barring such a referral, Liebich will remain in the women’s prison, they said.
For Richarz, the vulnerability of trans people in prison means that a person’s gender identity is paramount, even if one individual appears to be taking advantage of the rules.
“There is no such thing as a gender registration that is advantageous” for transpeople, Richarz said, pointing to widespread discrimination in the form of misogyny, femicide, and disadvantages faced by same-sex couples. The individual case of a known neo-Nazi should not be allowed to curtail the rights of an already at-risk minority. According to government data, hate crimes against queer and gender diverse people increased nearly tenfold between 2010 and 2023.
Edited by: Rina Goldenberg
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