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December 10, 2002
Transsexuals
are to be given the right to change their birth certificates and marry in
their adopted sex, after a 30-year legal battle. The lord
chancellor, Lord Irvine, is poised to announce the change just weeks
before a male-to-female transsexual was due to ask the House of Lords for
a ruling that her 20-year marriage to a man was valid. The move has
been forced on ministers by a judgment last July from the European court
of human rights in Strasbourg, holding that the UK law, which insists that
gender is irrevocably established at birth, violates transsexuals' right
to respect for private and family life. The
Strasbourg judges said: "A serious interference with private life
arose from the conflict between social reality and law, which placed the
transsexuals in an anomalous position in which they could experience
feelings of vulnerability, humiliation and anxiety. "In the
21st century the right of transsexuals to personal development and to
physical and moral security in the full sense enjoyed by others in society
can no longer be regarded as a matter of controversy requiring the lapse
of time to cast clearer light on the issues involved." The UK is one
of four countries in Europe - with Albania, Andorra and Ireland - which
still refuse to allow transsexuals to alter their birth certificates. The
ban has barred them from marrying in their new sex, affected the age at
which they qualify for a state pension and infringed their privacy by
ensuring that their previous history is inevitably revealed to any new
employer. A month
before the Strasbourg judgment, which the government expected to lose, a
working group of officials from 12 government departments was reconvened
to consider how to take reforms forward. In a series
of court cases judges have expressed sympathy for the plight of
transsexuals, but said reform was a matter for parliament. Elizabeth
Bellinger, whose case is scheduled for hearing in the House of Lords next
month, narrowly lost her case by a majority of two to one in the court of
appeal in July 2000. Both judges who ruled against her called on the
government to change the law. Last July the
Strasbourg court ruled in favour of Chris tine Goodwin, formerly a male
bus driver, and another male-to-female transsexual named only as
"I". Ms Goodwin claimed that the UK government violated her
right to a private life and discriminated against her by making her wait
until she was 65 for a state pension. Ms I argued
that her right to respect for her private life was breached because she
had to produce a birth certificate showing her as male to register for a
nursing course. Stephen
Whittle, of the transsexuals' campaigning group Press for Change, said:
"I'm really pleased they're finally doing it. The fact that they're
waiting nearly six months from the Strasbourg decision is appalling."
Dr Whittle, a
female-to-male transsexual and law lecturer who has played a leading role
in the campaign for transsexuals' rights, said the group was concerned
that there might be loopholes in the new law and delays before it went on
the statute book. "There's
no point in doing it if there are loopholes. The nature of the loopholes
is what has caused trouble in the past. "What I
really want to know is that they're going to do it in the next session.
Are they going to put in place more consultative processes because if they
are we're on a hiding to nothing." He said that
one stumbling block was what should happen to people who had changed sex
but remained within existing marriages, in some cases for pension reasons.
Ministers were divided on whether they should have to divorce if they
wanted to change the sex on their birth certificates. Christine
Burns, of Press for Change, said: "It's vital that the proposals
provide full legal recognition for all purposes. If there are any
exceptions, it will be worthless." Lynne Jones, Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak and chairwoman of the parliamentary forum on transsexualism, said: "I hope any measures the government introduces will get a fair wind in the Commons and the Lords and we'll start to catch up with more advanced countries." Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
