Protecting Trans Rights in the Age of Gender Self-Determination

PROTECTING TRANS RIGHTS IN THE AGE

OF GENDER SELF-DETERMINATION

PROTECTING TRANS RIGHTS IN THE AGE OF GENDER

SELF-DETERMINATION

Edited by Eva Brems Pieter Cannoot

Toon Moonen

Cambridge – Antwerp – Chicago

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Protecting Trans Rights in the Age of Gender Self-Determination © Th e editors and contributors severally 2020

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Artwork on cover: Christina Rahm Art / Alamy Stock Photo ISBN 978-1-83970-019-4

D/2020/7849/64 NUR 828

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Intersentia

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CONTENTS

List of Cases . . . vii

List of Authors . . . .xi

Introduction Eva Brems, Pieter Cannoot and Toon Moonen . . . 1

1. Gender Variation as a Human Rights Issue . . . 1

2. Trans Rights in the Age of Gender Self-Determination . . . 3

3. Book Overview . . . 7

Th e Limits to Gender Self-Determination in a Stereotyped Legal System: Lessons from the Belgian Gender Recognition Act Pieter Cannoot . . . 11

1. Th e Legal Recognition of Gender Identity . . . 13

2. Analysis of the Belgian Sex/Gender Registration Framework . . . 22

3. Conclusion . . . 52

From Assigning Sex to Affi rming Gender: Remarks on an Ongoing Evolution Aff ecting Gender Identifi cation Benjamin Moron-Puech . . . 55

1. Introduction . . . 55

2. Th e Origin of Trans Diffi culties Regarding Gender Identifi cation . . . 58

3. Th e Ongoing Shift from Sex Assignment to Gender Affi rmation . . . 64

4. Final Questions . . . 68

Th e Insuffi ciency of Gender Recognition Acts: Th e Example of Schooldays in Norway Anniken Sørlie . . . 73

1. Introduction . . . 73

2. Legal Gender Recognition for Children: Th e European Context. . . 75

3. Being Transgender at School . . . 80

4. A Look Forward . . . 90

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vi

Developments in German Civil Status Law on the Recognition of Intersex and Non-Binary Persons: Subversion Subverted

Jens T. Theilen . . . 95

1. Introduction . . . 95

2. Developments in German Civil Status Law. . . 97

3. Shift ing Rationales for Legal Gender Recognition . . . 108

4. Outlook . . . 117

Framing Equality: Debating Protected Grounds in the Field of Trans and Non-Binary Rights Peter Dunne . . . 121

1. Introduction . . . 121

2. Terminology . . . 123

3. Background and Context . . . 124

4. Disability . . . 128

5. Sex . . . 134

6. Trans-Specifi c Grounds . . . 138

7. Conclusion . . . 143

‘True Sex’: Th e Law and Confi rmation of One’s Sex Petr Agha . . . 145

1. Introduction . . . 145

2. Trans Identities in the Czech Context . . . 147

3. Trans Identities from the Perspectives of Trans People . . . 157

4. Identity Categories . . . 162

5. Conclusion . . . 166

Index . . . 171

Intersentia

vii

LIST OF CASES

INTERNATIONAL AND SUPRANATIONAL CASE LAW EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

ECtHR 22 October 1981, 7525/76, Dudgeon v. the United Kingdom , Series A no. 45 . . . . 27 ECtHR 17 October 1986, 9532/81, Rees v. the United Kingdom . . . 27, 64 ECtHR 27 September 1990, 10843/84, Cossey v. the United Kingdom . . . 27 EComm.HR, 9 September 1992, Filip Reyntjens , No. 16810/90 . . . 61 ECtHR 30 July 1998, 22985/93 and 23390/94, Sheffi eld and Horsham

v. the United Kingdom . . . 27 ECtHR 11 July 2002, 28957/95, Christine Goodwin

v. the United Kingdom . . . 5 , 27 , 64 , 77 , 111, 122, 125 ECtHR 12 June 2003, 35968/97, Van K ü ck v. Germany . . . 25 , 27 , 77 , 111 ECtHR 23 May 2006, 32570/03, Grant v. the United Kingdom . . . 28 ECtHR 5 June 2009, 29002/06, Schlumpf v. Switzerland . . . 133 ECtHR 10 March 2015, 14793/08, Y.Y. v. Turkey . . . 27 – 28 , 77 , 111 ECtHR 12 May 2015, 73235/12 Identoba and Others v. Georgia . . . 126 ECtHR 6 April 2017, 79885/12, 52471/13, 52596/13, A.P., Gar ç on

and Nicot v. France . . . 5 , 27– 28 , 32 – 34 , 41 , 68 , 77 , 111 , 133 , 156 ECtHR 17 January 2019, 29663/16, X v. the Former Yugoslav Republic

of Macedonia . . . 5 , 27 – 28 , 34 – 35 ECtHR 7 July 2020, 41701/16, Y.T. v. Bulgaria . . . 5

COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

P v. S and Cornwall County Council C-13/94 [1996] ECR I-2143 . . . 126 , 135 Opinion of Advocate General Jacobs, C-423/04 [2005] . . . 136 X, Y and Z v. Minister voor en Asiel [2014] 2 C.M.L.R. 16 . . . 140

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF SOCIAL RIGHTS

Transgender Europe and ILGA-Europe v. the Czech Republic , 15 May 2018 . . . 33

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viii

INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

IACtHR 24 November 2017, Advisory Opinion OC-24/17 . . . 6 , 25 , 125

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

G v. Australia Communication No. 2172/2012 (CCPR/C/119/D/2172/2012)

(UN HRC, 15 June 2017) . . . 126

NATIONAL CASE LAW AUSTRIA

Verfassungsgerichtshof [Constitutional Court] (Austria) 15 June 2018, G 77/2018-9 . . . . 49

BELGIUM

Grondwettelijk Hof [Constitutional Court] (Belgium) 20 October 2004, 159/2004 . . . 49 Grondwettelijk Hof [Constitutional Court] (Belgium) 19 June 2019,

99/2019 . . . 5 , 12 , 43 , 68 , 131 Rechtbank Antwerpen [Tribunal Antwerp] (Belgium) 16 September 2019,

19/1297/B . . . 42

CANADA

Commission des droits de la personne et droits de la jeunesse v. Maison des jeunes,

CT and AT , Qu é bec Human Rights Tribunal (2 July 1998) . . . 134

CZECH REPUBLIC

Judgment of the Municipal Court in Prague fi le No. 3 A 153/2017 of 14 May 2018 . . . . 152 Judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court No. 2 As 199/2018-37,

dated 30 May 2019 . . . . . 152

FRANCE

Cass. civ. (France), 4 May 2017, No. 16.17-189 . . . 62 , 113

Intersentia

ix

List of Cases

GERMANY

Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, 1 BvR 3295/07 (11 January 2011) . . . 122 Federal Court of Justice, Decision of 22 June 2016, Appl. No. XII ZB 52/15 . . . 99 Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, 2019/16 (10 October 2017) . . . 49 , 131 , 138

HONG KONG

W v. Registrar of Marriages [2013] HKCFA 39 . . . 122

INDIA

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) v. Union of India and others Supreme

Court of India, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 400 of 2012 (15 April 2014) . . . 122

IRELAND

Hannon v. First Direct Logistics Ltd, Equality Tribunal of Ireland (18 April 2011) . . . 128 Foy v. Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages (No 2) [2007] IEHC 470 . . . 122

NEPAL

Supreme Court of Nepal, Writ No. 917 of the year 2064 BS (2007 AD)

(21 December 2007) . . . . 124

NETHERLANDS

Rechtbank Limburg [Tribunal Limburg] (the Netherlands) 28 May 2018,

ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2018:4931 . . . 50

PAKISTAN

Supreme Court of Pakistan, Constitution Petition No. 43 of 2009 (22 March 2011) . . . . 124

SOUTH KOREA

Supreme Court of South Korea, En Banc Order 2004Seu42 (22 June 2006) . . . 122

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x

UNITED KINGDOM

High Court of Justice (United Kingdom) 22 June 2018, CO/2704/2017 . . . 50 Court of Appeal (civil division) 10 March 2020, R on the application of Christie

Elan-Cane v. Secretary of state for the Home Department , EWCA Civ 363 . . . 50

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

MT v. JT 355 A.2d 204 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1976) . . . 122 Jean Doe v. Bell 2003 WL 355603 (9 January 2003) . . . 128 Glenn v Brumby : ‘Extending Protection from Sex-Based Discrimination to

Transsexuals in the Eleventh Circuit ’ (2012) 21 . . . 136 Macy v. Holder No. 0120120821, 2012 WL 1435995 (E.E.O.C., 20 April 2012) . . . 134 Ashton Whitaker V. Kenosha Unifi ed School District (16-3522) [2017] . . . 90

Intersentia

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LIST OF AUTHORS

Petr Agha

Director of the Centre for Law and Public Aff airs, Researcher at the Institute of State and Law, Czech Academy of Sciences, and Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic

Eva Brems

Senior Full Professor of human rights law at the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University, Belgium

Pieter Cannoot

Postdoctoral Researcher at ConstitUGent and the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University, and Visiting Professor at the University of Antwerp, Belgium Peter Dunne

Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol Law School, United Kingdom Toon Moonen

Assistant Professor of constitutional law at ConstitUGent and the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University, Belgium

Benjamin Moron-Puech

Lecturer at the Laboratory of Legal Sociology, Panthéon-Assas University, Paris, France

Anniken S ø rlie

Associate Professor at Ø stfold University College, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Norway

Jens T. Th eilen

Research Associate at Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, Germany