X and Y count the hours with the original "Z"and three more born since the battle began

X, Y and Z prepare for the European Court of Human Rights’ Decision

The wait is now almost over. At 7 am on the morning of Tuesday 22nd April this man and his partner will know whether twenty judges drawn from 32 European nations agree he should be entitled to take legal responsibility for their four young children.

For the couple, known legally as "X" and "Y", it will be the end of a battle which traces back over five years. For X it will mean far more than that too … for a positive judgement will be a long overdue recognition of something even more fundamental and precious. A judgement supporting the man’s claim for recognition as these childrens’ legal father will also be a judgement which recognises his claim upon the status and responsibilities of manhood in Britain.

To suggest that X is anything other than a man would tax most reasonable peoples’ credulity, of course. Yes, he was born with a vagina rather than a penis. Yes, that meant that he was raised as a girl until old enough to challenge the assumptions made about his nature.Yes there are compromises he has had to make in order to make a life for himself.

That’s where the concessions to detail cease being meaningful however. For to cling desperately to the notion that he is anything other than a man in every other respect would be no different than to suggest that the Royal family aren’t British because of their birth inheritance.

More importantly, however, the case is really about Z and about the right that she, her brother and two twin sisters should have to a secure future. For if their mother were to die then the man who is "daddy" would, at present, have less of a say in their care and upbringing than the social services. He cannot approve medical treatment for them. He has no "official" say in their schooling. They have a blank on their birth certificates where his name should be. Mother is regarded, bizarrely, as a single parent by the DSS.

These are the stakes as the judges of the European Court of Human Rights deliver their judgement at breakfast time on Tuesday morning.

We hope and pray that after so many years of educating and arguing for sense around this entire subject the judges will heed the doctors and researchers who agree that Stephen is a man. We hope they’ll have regard for the vast majority of other countries around the world who’ve already legislated sensitively for the special case posed by men and women like him. We hope, above all, that they’ll have regard to the evidence of their own senses.

A few weeks ago the European Commission on Human Rights (which decides whether cases should go forward to be heard by the Court) held by FIFTEEN votes to ONE that two other cases being brought by the transsexual women, Rachel Horsham and Georgina Sheffield deserved a hearing. These cases allege that the UK government has breached articles 8, 12 and 14 of the Human Rights code. In recommending those cases by such a resounding majority the commission sent a strong message that circumstances … and the scientific evidence … have changed significantly since the last time a UK transsexual applied to the Court for justice.

So maybe there’s a case for cautious optimism. We hope so. And we hope that you’ll cross your fingers with us too.