Rights of Transsexuals in Malta

Rights of transsexuals

Name: Anastasia Loiacono

Course: Family law

Lecturer: Prof. Dr.R.Farrugia

Institution: University of Malta

Erasmus student

4 december 2011

Outline the rights emanating from the status of persons who obtain legal authorisation to change sex

Transsexuals are people who’s biological birth sex conflicts with their psychological gender. Nowadays transsexualism is seen as a medical condition. The recognition and establishment of rights of transsexuals has faced a difficult process. Through time their rights have developed and extended. But although transsexuals have more rights than decades ago, there is still little legislation about it.

When transsexuals are still considered as having the same sex as at birth for legal purposes, it causes problems in situations where sex is of legal relevance and distinctions are made between men and women. For example in the area of pensions and retirement age, social security and police records or when crossing a frontier, undergoing an identity check..

This discloses the discrepancy between their legal sex and their apparent sex and it entails embarrassing public situations which causes stress for the applicant and cannot be regarded as a minor inconvenience arising from a formality.

In the following European case law the differences between countries and the lack of rights in important areas shall arise.

In the beginning transsexuals didn’t have the right in England to change their sex on their birth certificate. The court was from the opinion that the government’s argument on the historical nature of the birth record system was a...