Notes
[1] The language used by the European Court of Human Rights regarding transgender or gender identity rights is limited to ‘transsexual people’ and ‘gender reassignment.’ To date there have been no cases heard by the Court that address a broader and more inclusive understanding of trans* experiences.
25/3/1992
B. v. France
The Court concluded for the first time that there had been a violation of Article 8 in a case concerning the recognition of transsexual people [1] . Ms. B, a male-to-female transsexual person, complained of the refusal of the French authorities to amend the civil status register in accordance with her wishes.
Violation of Article 8: (right to respect for private and family life) The Court took into consideration factors distinguishing the case of B; whilst there were obstacles in the UK preventing birth certificates from being amended, in France these were intended to be updated throughout an individual’s life. The Court observed that in France many official documents reveal “a discrepancy between [the] legal sex and [the] apparent sex of a transsexual [person]” (§ 59), which also appear on social security documents and payslips. The Court held that the refusal to amend the civil register placed the applicant “in a daily situation which was not compatible with the respect due to her private life”.
11/7/2002
Christine Goodwin v. United Kingdom
11/2006
Wena and Anita Parry v. United Kingdom || R. and F. v. United Kingdom
8/1/2009
Schlumpf v. Switzerland
The refusal of the applicant’s health insurers to pay the costs of her gender reassignment surgery on the ground that she had not complied with a two-year waiting period before the surgery, required by the case-law as a condition for payment of the costs of such treatment.
Violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life): The Court found the waiting period requirement had been applied without regard to the age (67) of the applicant. The decision to undergo gender reassignment surgery was likely to be affected by that delay and would thus impair her freedom to determine her gender identity.
30/11/2010
P.V. v. Spain
6/9/2011