Social Media - Court: 'Transe' as offensive as 'Schwfschelappe'
The term "Transe" is solely derogatory. The Frankfurt Oberlandesgericht has established this. The "degree of injury" is on a par with the insult "pansy".
The plaintiff has lived as a trans woman for approximately 40 years, as reported by the court. Her gender entry states "female". She advocates against transphobia and publishes contributions, among other places, on the platform X. The defendant operates a blog. He published an article with the heading "Totalitarian trans pulls in its tail".
The two had already clashed in social media before. The court spoke of a "publicly waged private feud". After the text with this heading, the woman wanted an injunction. The lower court granted it in an expedited procedure. The defendant's appeal had no success: The OLG saw the case the same way.
It concerns an expression of opinion that, while not crossing the boundary to satirical criticism, a regular reader would understand as a deliberate denigration of the plaintiff, according to the OLG.
"Highly offensive and discriminatory"
"Trans" is a slur that is highly offensive and discriminatory. The expression "pulls in its tail" is particularly demeaning for a trans woman, "as nothing can be pulled in that is not there", according to the court.
The court did not view the sentence as satire. The right to freedom of expression weighed less in this case than the general personality right of the plaintiff. The expedited procedure decision is not appealable.
- The Frankfurt Oberlandesgericht, located in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany, has declared that the term "Transe" is a derogatory slur similar in severity to calling someone a "pansy."
- The Oberlandesgericht (OLG) in Frankfurt am Main upheld the lower court's decision in favor of the plaintiff, a trans woman who lived in Germany for over 40 years and advocated against transphobia, due to an offensive article published by the defendant on his blog.
- The OLG in Frankfurt am Main deemed the defendant's use of the term "totalitarian trans pulls in its tail" as a deliberate denigration of the plaintiff, which can be understood as highly offensive and discriminatory towards trans women, given that "nothing can be pulled in that is not there."
