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Helen MC
05-23-2006, 05:40 PM
From the BBC News Website

Sex-change woman wins rights case
A sex-change woman has had her human rights case upheld after being told she would have to wait for her pension until the male pension age of 65.
Linda Grant, 68, from St Albans, Herts, lived as a man until her 20s.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled her rights had been breached after the British government refused to recognise her female status.

Not giving her a pension at 60 violated her "right to respect for private and family life", the judges said.

Lost appeal

Ms Grant was awarded £1,100 in damages and £19,000 in costs in the ruling on Tuesday.

After her sex change surgery, her birth certificate continued to describe her as male, even though she was identified as a woman on her National Insurance card.

She also paid National Insurance contributions at the female rate until the difference in rates between men and women was abolished in 1975.

Ms Grant applied for a state pension from her 60th birthday, but was told she would have to wait until 65, the pensionable age for men, because the decision was governed by gender details on the birth certificate.

An appeal was turned down, but she demanded that her case be reopened when the human rights judges backed a similar case brought in 2002 by Christine Goodwin.

'Victim status'

A year ago, Ms Grant was issue with a gender recognition certificate, under the government's new Gender Recognition Act.

The Act gives legal recognition to "acquired gender" for social security benefits and pension rights.

Ms Grant's "victim status" only came to an end when the new legislation came into force, the judges said.

They added that there had been no justification for failing to recognise her sex-change situation from the moment of the Goodwin judgment.

Tuesday's verdict follows a ruling in the European Court of Justice, which declared earlier this month that the government's refusal to give a sex-change woman a pension at the age of 60 was illegal under EU equality laws.




Some progress at last!

julie lavender
05-23-2006, 05:46 PM
Well done linda,a victory for common sense, although really everyone should retire at 60, there is not a lot of time left after that, before we fall of our perch.

btmgrl6
05-23-2006, 06:13 PM
Another great example of "stand up for your rights" and s**t happens.

Kudos

Steph