Politics
Thursday July 11, 2002
EUROPEAN COURT RECOGNIZES TRANSSEXUAL'S RIGHTS AS A "WOMAN"
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LONDON, England, July 11, 2002 (LSN.ca) - A British transsexual has won his battle in the European Court of Human Rights to be recognised as a woman and be allowed to marry. The man, who is 64 and is respectfully referred to as "she" and "her" in news reports, underwent an operation in 1990 to have his male organs removed and mock-female organs attached in their place, calls himself "Christine" Goodwin. He took his case to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that English law denies him the "right" to the sexual identity of his choice.
The unanimous judgment from Strasbourg held that Britain's "failure" to recognize his new identity in law was a breach of his "rights to respect for privacy and ... right to marry under the European Convention on Human Rights." The UK, Ireland, Andorra and Albania are the only countries in the Council of Europe that do not recognize a sex change as legally valid.
Mr. Goodwin also argued that his human rights were infringed because he will be unable to draw a pension until he is 65, even though English law allows "women" to qualify for a pension when they turn 60. The former bus driver, who had a full sex change operation in 1990, told the court he was not given a new National Insurance number after the operation. He says he suffered sexual harassment at work after his employers discovered he had a sex-change operation. He was awarded £14,685 for costs and expenses.
For BBC News coverage see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_2122000/2122094.stm
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