Transgender Eqaulity Network

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Friday February 13, 2004 13:14

by Paul McAndrew

ardhanishvara at hotmail dot com

TRANSGENDER EQUALITY NETWORK IRELAND > >PRESS RELEASE > Transgender Equality Network Ireland wishes to announce the launch of its public campaign for the full legal recognition of Transgendered people in their true gender.

The present Press Release follows the recent developments in the area of Transgender Rights in the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights as well as the United Kingdom, where the House of Lords just passed the Gender Recognition Bill introduced by the Government granting Transgendered people full recognition in law. Moreover, the public consultations in connection with the proposals made in the course of the long overdue Reform of the Irish Marriage Law are currently ongoing and item number 10 on the agenda of this Reform deals with "Transsexual Marriages" >which clearly indicates that the Government is starting to feel the pressure to change the presently unacceptable situation. The founders and members of Transgender Equality Network Ireland call upon the Government and, specifically, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, to follow the High Court recommendations (obiter) made in case of Foy v. Ireland and introduce legislation ensuring that all rights guaranteed by the Irish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003 may be enjoyed by all Transgendered people without any restrictions. We wish to draw the Minister¹s attention to the fact that Ms. Foy is currently appealing the High Court judgement to the Supreme Court. Subject to the outcome of these Proceedings the State may face a legal challenge in the European Court of Human Rights sooner rather than later and is very likely to be found to be in breach of various provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 which now does form an integral part of the domestic law in Ireland. TRANSGENDER EQUALITY NETWORK IRELANDContact details: [email protected] or [email protected]