Children – gender reassignment – Deed Poll – name change – welfare considerations – parental consent to name change – child’s consent – ECHR – Gender Recognition Act 2004 – Human Rights Act 1998 – privacy – Children Act 1989 s.1 – procedure – Article 8 – Article 14 – specific issue order Citations: [2020] … Continue reading W, F, C and D (Minors) (Name Changes Disclosing Gender Reassignment and Other Matters): QBD 12 Feb 2020
The applicants had had their requests for asylum refused. They complained that if they were removed from the UK, their article 3 rights would be infringed. If they were returned to Pakistan or Vietnam they would be persecuted for their religious faiths. Held: A distinction was to be made between domestic cases involving actions within … Continue reading Regina v Special Adjudicator ex parte Ullah; Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department: HL 17 Jun 2004
The claimant was a male to female trans-sexual who had been refused employment as a police officer by the respondent, who had said that the staturory requirement for males to search males and for females to search females would be impossible to comply with. She had sought to be employed on the basis that her … Continue reading A v West Yorkshire Police: HL 6 May 2004
Same Sex Partner Entitled to tenancy Succession The protected tenant had died. His same-sex partner sought a statutory inheritance of the tenancy. Held: His appeal succeeded. The Fitzpatrick case referred to the position before the 1998 Act: ‘Discriminatory law undermines the rule of law because it is the antithesis of fairness. It brings the law … Continue reading Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza: HL 21 Jun 2004
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The court was asked about the age at which entitlement to a pension began for someone of transgender. Held: The court was divided, and the issue was referred to the European Court of Justice. Judges: Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Wilson, Lord Sumption, Lord Toulson, Lord Hodge Citations: [2016] UKSC 53, UKSC 2014/0220 Links: Bailii, … Continue reading MB v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: SC 5 Jul 2016
This case is about how the Department for Work and Pensions (the DWP), in administering our complex welfare benefits system, treats people with a reassigned gender, and specifically whether certain policies conflict (1) with the Gender Recognition Act 2004; (2) with the Human Rights Act 1998; or (3) with the Equality Act 2010. The claimant … Continue reading C, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: SC 1 Nov 2017
The parties had lived together as a married couple. They had had a child together by artificial insemination. It was then revealed that Mr J was a woman. The parties split up, and Mr J applied for an order for contact with the child. Held: The appeal was dismissed. The HFEA Act required that to … Continue reading J v C and E (a Child) (Void Marriage: Status of Children): CA 15 May 2006
The applicant, born male, had gender reassignment surgery at the age of 26. When she was approaching her 60th birthday she sought a state pension. This was refused on the grounds that she was, in law, male. Held: The 2004 Act had not been in force when the claimant began her action. The Court spoke … Continue reading Grant v The United Kingdom: ECHR 23 May 2006
FTTTx National Insurance contributions – gender dysphoria – determination of pensionable age – whether possible to interpret ‘woman’ as including person with gender dysphoria living as a woman – whether directly effective right under Directive 79/7 to cease paying contributions otherwise than by satisfying conditions for recognition under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 – Social … Continue reading M v Revenue and Customs: FTTTx 30 Jul 2010
Challenge to refusal of gender recognition certificate. Judges: Baker LJ Citations: [2018] EWHC 2620 (Fam), [2018] WLR(D) 627 Links: Bailii, WLRD Statutes: Gender Recognition Act 2004, Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Family, Human Rights Updated: 21 July 2022; Ref: scu.630616
The appellant, a male to female transsexual, had remained married to her wife despite having the right to have the marriage annulled following the 2004 Act. She now appealed against rejection of her claim to a state pension on attaining the age of 60. She had not applied for a Gender Recognition Certificate because she … Continue reading MB v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: CA 31 Jul 2014
The prisoner sought to transfer from male to female gender, and challenged objections and barriers sraised by the governor of the prison. Jeremy Richardson QC HHJ [2013] EWHC 3491 (Admin) Bailii Gender Recognition Act 2004 England and Wales Prisons, Health Updated: 26 November 2021; Ref: scu.518910
The claimant, a post-operative male-to-female transsexual person, said that section 3(3) of the 2004 Act was incompatible with her Human rights after refusal of a gender recognition certificate. Held: The application failed. The provision of the information required in paragraph 3(3) is necessary and proportionate to the legitimate aim. There is no incompatibility with Article … Continue reading Carpenter v The Secretary of State for Justice: Admn 27 Feb 2015
The claimant had undertaken male to female treatment including surgery and lived as a woman, though continuing to live with her wife. She sought payment of a pension at 60, but was refused. The regulations required a gender recognition certificate issued under the 2004 Act, which in turn required that she divorce her wife. She … Continue reading Timbrell v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: CA 22 Jun 2010
The claimant was serving a sentence of imprisonment. She was a pre-operative transgender woman, but held in a male prison. She sought review of a decision to refuse transfer to a women’s prison. The Gender Recognition Panel was satisfied that the Claimant had lived in her acquired gender for the requisite two year period prior … Continue reading AB, Regina (On the Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice and Another: Admn 4 Sep 2009
Transgendered Prisoners Policy Challenge The Claimant challenged the lawfulness of the Defendant’s policies relating to the care and management within the prison estate of persons who identify as the opposite gender from that which was assigned to them at birth. In particular, she challenges the policy in relation to the allocation to a women’s prison … Continue reading FDJ, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice: Admn 2 Jul 2021
The claimant, a male to female transsexual, challenged a decision by the respondent to refuse breast augmentation treatment. The Trust had a policy ‘GRS is a Low Priority treatment due to the limited evidence of clinical effectiveness and is not routinely funded.’ Held: The claim for judicial review failed. There was no general medical concensus … Continue reading AC v Berkshire West Primary Care Trust, Equality and Human Rights Commissions intervening: Admn 25 May 2010
Whether the First Appellant, Alfred McConnell (whose name was at one time anonymised to TT), a transgender man and holder of a gender recognition certificate, is entitled to be registered as the ‘father’, or otherwise ‘parent’ or ‘gestational . .
The Court was asked whether, in the context of awarding Jobseeker’s Allowance, the State has unjustifiably interfered with the right of transgender persons to have information about their gender reassignment kept private.
Held: The appeal . .
The applicants alleged discrimination in that as a same sex couple they were not allowed to marry. Held: There was no violation.The Court cannot but note that there is an emerging European consensus towards legal recognition of same-sex couples. Moreover, this tendency has developed rapidly over the past decade. Nevertheless, there is not yet a … Continue reading Schalk and Kopf v Austria: ECHR 24 Jun 2010
The applicant had been born and registered as a female, but later came to receive treatment and to live as a male. He complained that the respondent had failed to amend his birth certificate. Held: The court accepted that, by failing to confer on a transsexual a right to an amended birth certificate, the state … Continue reading Rees v The United Kingdom: ECHR 17 Oct 1986
The applicants complained that as an unmarried couple they had been excluded from consideration as adopters. Held: Northern Ireland legislation had not moved in the same way as it had for other jurisdictions within the UK. The greater commitment to traditional family structures did not however justify the difference. The rules were unlawful discrimination.Lord Hoffmann … Continue reading In re P and Others, (Adoption: Unmarried couple) (Northern Ireland); In re G: HL 18 Jun 2008
The parties disputed whether Mr Smith had been an employee of or worker with the company so as to bring associated rights into play. The contract required the worker to provide an alternate worker to cover if necessary. Held: The company’s appeal failed. Mr Smith was a worker: ‘there were features of the contract which … Continue reading Pimlico Plumbers Ltd and Another v Smith: SC 13 Jun 2018
The petitioner intended to seek a declaration as to her marital status. She and the respondent had married in a civil ceremony in British Columbia in 2003. She sought a declaration of incompatibility with regard to section 11(3) of the 1973 Act so far as it failed to recognise same sex marriages. She now sought … Continue reading Wilkinson v Kitzinger and Another: FD 12 Apr 2006
It is within a nation’s margin of appreciation to refuse to re-register birth details of people who had undergone sex-changes. Similarly it was not a human rights infringement not to allow post operative trans-sexuals to marry. However the court was critical of the United Kingdom’s apparent failure to take any steps to keep this area … Continue reading Sheffield and Horsham v The United Kingdom: ECHR 30 Jul 1998
(Grand Chamber) The applicant was a Jehovah’s Witness who had been convicted of insubordination under the Military Criminal Code for refusing to wear a military uniform at a time of general mobilisation. He was subsequently refused appointment as a Chartered Accountant under rules which excluded those convicted of serious crimes. He argued that the lack … Continue reading Thlimmenos v Greece: ECHR 6 Apr 2000
The respondent’s child lived with the estranged father for most of each week. She was obliged to contribute child support. She now lived with a woman, and complained that because her relationship was homosexual, she had been asked to pay more than someone in a heterosexual relationship. Held: The claim failed. The regulations had now … Continue reading Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v M: HL 8 Mar 2006
The parties had gone through a ceremony of marriage in Columbia, being both women. After the relationship failed, the claimant sought a declaration that the witholding of the recognition of same-sex marriages recoginised in a foreign jurisdiction was an infringement of her human rights. Held: Such a relationship is recognised in England as a civil … Continue reading Wilkinson v Kitzinger and others: FD 31 Jul 2006
Transgender Male to Female not to marry as Female The parties had gone through a form of marriage, but Mrs B had previously undergone gender re-assignment surgery. Section 11(c) of the 1973 Act required a marriage to be between a male and a female. It was argued that the section was incompatible with the claimant’s … Continue reading Bellinger v Bellinger: HL 10 Apr 2003
There had been a purported marriage in 1963 between a man and a male to female trans-sexual. Held: Because marriage is essentially a union between a man and a woman, the relationship depended on sex, and not on gender. The law should adopt the chromosomal, gonadal and genital tests. If all three are congruent, that … Continue reading Corbett v Corbett (otherwise Ashley): FD 1 Feb 1970
A male to female transsexual who had undergone full gender reassignment surgery wished to marry. The court held that despite the Resolution of the European Parliament on 12th September 1989 and Recommendation 1117 adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 29th September 1989 – both of which sought the encourage the … Continue reading Cossey v The United Kingdom: ECHR 27 Sep 1990
The appellant had been ostentatiously photographed by the police as he left a company general meeting. He was a peaceful and lawful objector to the Arms Trade. He appealed against refusal of an order for the records to be destroyed. The police had refused to disclose elements of their policies for overt photography. Held: The … Continue reading Wood v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis: CA 21 May 2009
Same Sex Paartner to Inherit as Family Member The claimant had lived with the original tenant in a stable and long standing homosexual relationship at the deceased’s flat. After the tenant’s death he sought a statutory tenancy as a spouse of the deceased. The Act had been extended to include as a spouse someone living … Continue reading Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association Ltd: HL 28 Oct 1999
Foetus has no Established Human Rights The Claimants sought a declaration that section 1(1)(d) of the Abortion Act 1967, as amended, is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (‘ECHR’), as well as some other remedies. The claimant had Down’s Syndrome, and complained the readiness to abort foetuses with identified Down’s genes – more … Continue reading Crowter and Others, Regina (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Health And Social Care: Admn 23 Sep 2021
Right to Life Did Not include Right to Death The applicant was paralysed and suffered a degenerative condition. She wanted her husband to be allowed to assist her suicide by accompanying her to Switzerland. English law would not excuse such behaviour. She argued that the right to die is not the antithesis of the right … Continue reading Pretty v The United Kingdom: ECHR 29 Apr 2002
(Grand Chamber) The applicant said that whilst a prisoner he had been banned from voting. The UK operated with minimal exceptions, a blanket ban on prisoners voting. Held: Voting is a right not a privilege. It was a right central in a democratic society. Though the right is not absolute, any limitation had to be … Continue reading Hirst v United Kingdom (2): ECHR 6 Oct 2005
The claimant was a post operative male to female trans-sexual. She claimed that her human rights were infringed when she was still treated as a man for National Insurance contributions purposes, where she continued to make payments after the age at which a woman would have ceased payments thus causing harassment. A second claimant again … Continue reading Goodwin v The United Kingdom: ECHR 11 Jul 2002
No right to non-gendered passport The claimant sought judicial review of the police of the respondent’s policy requiring a passport applicant to identify themselves as either male or female. The claimant began life as a female, but, with surgery, asserted a non-gendered identity. Held: The appeal failed: ‘Where it has been held that there is … Continue reading Elan-Cane, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for The Home Department and Another: CA 10 Mar 2020
The defendant prison governor had intercepted a prisoner’s letter to the Crown Office for the purpose of raising proceedings to have the governor committed for an alleged contempt of court. Held: The governor was in contempt of court. Subject to any legislation altering the situation, a prisoner retains all his rights that are not taken … Continue reading Raymond v Honey: HL 4 Mar 1981
The applicants, an heterosexual couple wished to enter into a civil partnership under the 2004 Act, rather than a marriage. They complained that had they been a same sex couple they would have had that choice under the 2013 Act.
Held: The . .
