Transsexuals win landmark ruling

The government will have to change the law to allow transsexuals to be legally recognised as their adopted sex following a landmark ruling in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) last month.

Currently a person is legally considered to be the sex given on their birth certificate, even if they undergo gender reassignment surgery. This means they cannot marry or claim pension rights in their adopted gender.

The case was taken by Christine Goodwin, now aged 65, who was denied the right to draw a state pension at 60, and an unnamed transsexual who had been denied admission to a nursing course after refusing to produce her birth certificate, which showed she had been born male. The ECHR held that the UK law violated the European convention on human rights which establishes a right to respect for private life and a right to marry.

* In a separate case taken to an employment tribunal, a post-operative transsexual will get £22,000 compensation in settlement of a sex discrimination claim. Clare Steen complained of sexual harassment from male colleagues when working for Structural Polymer Systems on the Isle of Wight. Despite having an earlier favourable appraisal, she was dismissed shortly after raising concerns about her treatment.

Discrimination against transsexuals at work has been unlawful under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 since 1999.

Some commonly held assumptions about today's world of work need to be seriously questioned, according to a new report1. Back-up highlights some of the key findings.