Transsexual Identity Case May Set Back Gay Marriage

The Supreme Administrative Court ruled that a married man who had undergone the long process of transforming into a woman was not entitled to be listed as female in official records. Current law permits married people to officially change their gender only if their spouse agrees.

In these cases, the couple gives up their married status and becomes a registered partnership.

Gay rights organisations have long lobbied for a gender-neutral marriage law, which would allow same-sex marriages and avoid legal snarls caused by gender re-assignment.

Wife Refused Consent to Save Family

The case in question was brought to the Court by a married man and father, who became a transsexual. The couple want to retain their married status, so the wife refused to give her official consent.

A lower Administrative Court rejected their case, ruling that "in the realm of family law, a marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman." And so, from the court's perspective, the local registry office did not violate the constitutional guarantee of equality of the sexes by refusing to change the woman’s gender without her wife’s consent.

The lower court’s ruling, which defined marriage as exclusively a heterosexual right, has put one more legal obstacle in front of activists calling for gender-neutral marriage laws.

The plaintiff argued that the current laws are essentially forcing her to choose between her sexual identity and keeping her family intact.

In addition, she says that her identification papers have caused real problems in security checks, for example, because they no longer reflect her new self.

There are no legal objections to a man undergoing sexual reassignment to become a woman and then marrying a man, for example.