1 Purpose of the Document

1.1 The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the current legal, medical and social status of people born with the syndrome of transsexualism in the UK. It has been produced by Press For Change, the lobbying group which seeks equal civil liberties for the 5,000 citizens in the UK born with this condition.

2 Current Medical Status

2.1 The current medical status of transsexualism is described in detail in Transsexualism: the Current Medical Viewpoint and its clinical history has been given in legal evidence.

2.2 Transsexualism is a congenital physical disability. It arises from a hormonal imbalance while the child is in utero which results in incongruent brain and genital formation. It was introduced to the general medical community in 1953, was classified as a syndrome in 1968 and its diagnostic criteria were published in 1980. Recent medical research has both confirmed its biologically-based, multifactorial etiology and shown that it can be identified in childhood, meeting the requirements for medical classification as an intersex condition. The syndrome is treated by medical and surgical interventions with a 97% success rate of treatment.

2.3 Prior to the legal case of Corbett v Corbett in 1970, transsexualism was regarded as an intersex condition by both medicine and the law. Thus it was possible for individuals to have their birth certificates corrected after treatment, providing them with full civil liberties in their reassigned gender. However, Corbett v Corbett removed the provision for birth certificate correction. The effect of that decision has been to create a variety of civil inequities which are a matter of concern to the UK medical community since they operate against individuals’ continuing health and quality of life.

3 Current Legal Status

3.1 The case of Corbett v Corbett reviewed some medical and legal evidence on the status of people treated for transsexualism. However, it overlooked an earlier Scottish decision which confirmed the right of people treated for transsexualism tohave their birth certificates corrected and to marry and inherit in their correct, reassigned gender. It also failed to take into account other earlier cases where people treated for transsexualism had had their birth certificates corrected. Thus, its decision must now be considered to be invalid.

3.2 Society’s experience of people whose birth certificates have been corrected after treatment for transsexualism or other intersex conditions has shown that no complications have arisen which could not be dealt with by a normal process of law. Similarly, a decision in the European Court of Justice in 1996 which gave substantive employment rights to individuals in the UK treated for transsexualism has produced no adverse effects.

3.3 It is now a matter of urgent concern to the National Council for Civil Liberties and other legal experts in this field that full civil liberties continue to be withheld from this tiny minority group for no benefit to society at large.

4 Current Social Status

4.1 In 1989 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a Recommendation to provide full civil status to people treated for transsexualism. A similar Resolution was adopted by the European Parliament in 1989. In 1993 the Council of Europe held an international colloquy on transsexualism, medicine and law to seek ways of remedying discrimination against them.

4.2 The following occurences indicate change in UK social attitude since 1993:

in 1994 a Parliamentary Forum was established to draw together legal, medical and other experts with the intention of seeking ways to provide full citizenship for people treated for transsexualism. The Forum meets twice yearly since that date.

fringe meetings were held at the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat party conferences in 1995 and 1996 to discuss the legal status of people treated for transsexualism.

on 2 February 1996 a Private Members Bill seeking to restore full civil status to people treated for transsexualism was presented for its second reading by Mr Alex Carlile MP.

in July 1996 the Home Office consulted with two support groups of people treated for transsexualism to formulate policy for dealing with detainment and imprisonment.

television and radio coverage sympathetic to restoring human rights to people treated for transsexualism has averaged one item per month for the last four years. Concern has been expressed by the Press Council that news stories should not be stigmatising or humiliating.

in 1996 a European Court of Justice decision provided protection against discrimination in employment for people treated for transsexualism.

on 15 June 1996 the National Council for Civil Liberties held a meeting of legal experts on transsexualism and established it as a major area of its concern for human rights.

4.3 It is concluded that the current legal status of people treated for transsexualism has not kept up with the pace of social change and scientific knowledge, thus breaching a fundamental ethical principle of democratic government.