Transsexual born a man wins right to be recognised as a woman

A transsexual who was born a man won a historic legal battle to be recognised as a woman yesterday and will be allowed to marry.

Christine Goodwin, a 65-year-old who has lived as a woman since 1984, and another unidentified British transsexual had challenged the Government in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The ruling does not override British law, but will have to be taken into account in future judgments. If the Government, which is reviewing the law on transsexuals, does not change its stance, it is likely to face further legal defeats.

The court awarded Miss Goodwin, a former truck driver who had gender reassignment surgery in 1990, £14,685 for costs and expenses.

The other transsexual, a 47-year old former dental nurse known as "I" who was refused admission to a nursing course because she would not present her birth certificate, was awarded £24,898.

Among other forms of recognition, their sex will be recorded on official documents such as birth certificates.

Miss Goodwin's lawyers said that she had been declined a new National Insurance number after her sex-change operation. This had allowed subsequent employers to discover that she had been born a man, which had embarrassed her. She had also been sexually harassed.

The failure of British law to recognise her change of gender also stopped her from claiming a pension at the age of 60 rather than 65.

Miss Goodwin, who left court with two of the four children she fathered in a relationship before her operation, said she was "euphoric" at the decision.

"It will change my life tremendously because I can now start my own business. I don't have to look back on who I am," she said. "I don't have to reveal my gender to anybody any more."

The victory was hailed by campaigners as a triumph, after 30 years of pressure to have the law changed.

Claire McNab, of Press for Change, said the ruling would have significant implications for the estimated 5,000 people in Britain who have had sex changes. But she said the Government was dragging its feet on the issue, despite concerted lobbying and the publication of a report two years ago that set out options for reform.

"This is a landmark ruling, but we are not celebrating until the law is changed," she said. "We have been waiting for years for a commitment from the Government to change UK law. Nearly every European country except the UK already has a mechanism for changing a person's legal status."

Britain is one of only a handful of European countries, including Ireland, Albania and Andorra, which does not legally acknowledge people who have sex changes or allow them the full benefits of their new gender, although it does allow it to be recorded on passports.

The restrictions tend to cause transsexuals – most of whom have had sex change operations through the NHS after years of psychological assessment – severe embarrassment in their daily lives. They find it hard to conceal their original gender from employers, particularly when applying for pensions, mortgages and jobs, including in the Civil Service.

But the anomaly means that homosexual transsexuals can marry if one was born a member of the opposite sex.

The Court of Human Rights said it was not persuaded that gender should be defined by "purely biological criteria".

"There had been major social changes in the institution of marriage since the adoption of the convention, as well as dramatic changes brought about by developments in medicine and science in the field of transsexuality," it said after the ruling. "The court found no justification for barring the transsexual from enjoying the right to marry under any circumstances."

Two weeks ago the Government reconvened a working party examining reform of the law on transsexuals, who have already won the right to remain in the armed forces.

The Lord Chancellor's Department, which is in charge of the review, said the judgment "does not overrule UK law as it stands but will have serious implications".

A spokeswoman said: "Our policy officials will have to take this judgment into account when reviewing this policy. We know that this is an important issue, which is why the transsexual working party has been reconvened."

A long campaign: Legal milestones

1970: The High Court judged that transsexuals could not legally marry.

1996: The European Court of Justice ruled that transsexuals should have protection against discrimination at work.

1999: People were allowed the legal right to have sex changes on the NHS by the High Court.

2000: A transsexual born with a "micro penis" won the right in the High Court to be declared a woman.

A male vicar who became a woman was permitted by the Bishop of Bristol to remain in her ministry.