DUBLIN — In what the Irish government is calling a work ‘in progress,’ transgendered nationals are still banned from changing their birth certificate to reflect their new identities while those from other nations are not reports the Irish Times. “The General Registrar Office in Ireland will accept a birth certificate amended by another state where gender reassignment is recognized in support of notification of intention to marry or to enter into a civil partnership, from a person born outside of Ireland.”
While the reasons remain unclear, the person at the center of a lawsuit to undo the discriminatory practice, Lydia Foy, is moving ahead to change the policy. “I see everything flows from your identity. Being accepted for who I am is the most important thing. I would like to see this wrong put right as quickly and with as much dignity as possible,” she told the Times.
Loy is something of homegrown national heroine to the Irish transgender community where her landmark 2007 victory against the state resulted in allowing others who have completed gender reassignment surgery to have their new identities recognized on driver’s licenses and passports. (The state had planned on appealing the case to the nation’s Supreme Court but withdrew after discovering it was in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, of which Ireland is a signatory member).
Michael Farrell, who is representing Ms. Loy in her legal battle, issued a statement, declaring that, “But it highlights how out of touch our law is compared with the rest of Europe and other countries. We are already in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights in Lydia Foy’s case. The law needs to be changed urgently or we may have a situation where European or American transgender persons can marry or have a civil partnership in this state but ‘no Irish need apply’.”
