European court dismisses case of two transsexuals

10:29 a.m. Jul 30, 1998 Eastern

STRASBOURG, France, July 30 (Reuters) - The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday ruled against two transsexuals who said their right to privacy and a family life had been violated because Britain had refused to allow them to change their birth certificates to reflect their new gender.

The first case was brought by Kristina Sheffield, 52, who was born male and had a sex change in 1986. She changed her name and was provided with a passport and driving licence in her new name but her birth certificate was not changed.

She continues to be seen as a man under English law. Sheffield said she was denied access to her daughter because a judge ruled that contact with a transsexual would not be in the childs best interest.

Another transsexual, Rachael Horsham, also 52, was also born male but had a sex change in 1992.

She had lived in the Netherlands since 1974 and acquired Dutch citizenship. She was issued a birth certificate with her new name and sex in the Netherlands but the English authorities said they could not alter her original birth certificate.

Horsham says she has been forced to live in exile because of the situation.

The two women said that they had suffered profound hurt and embarrassment when obliged to identify themselves in a gender they had renounced.

Sheffield said that when she attended court to stand surety for a friend and when she applied for car insurance she had to identify herself as a man.

But the European court ruled that they had not been able to prove the state had an obligation under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights to recognise in law their post-operative gender.

Article 8 states that everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

But the Court cautioned that given the increased social acceptance of transsexualism contracting states needed to keep this area of the law under review.

Copyright © Reuters, 1998