The European Court rules Romania was wrong to refuse recognition of British-Romanian transgender man’s gender and name change automatically.
Judges in Luxembourg said Romania breached EU law by refusing to recognize a gender change for a British-Romanian transgender man.
The EU’s top court ruled that countries must recognize gender and name changes made in other member states
– reported by The Telegraph.
In what was hailed as a “monumental victory” for transgender people, the Luxembourg judges said Romania breached EU law when it refused to accept a gender and name change for a British-Romanian transgender man approved in the UK before the end of the Brexit transition period.
The ruling could set a precedent across the EU, stating that lawful gender and name changes in other EU states must be automatically recognized in order to protect EU free movement and residency rights. It also emphasized that Brexit was irrelevant as the UK was still a member during the transition period when Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi received a gender recognition certificate in 2020 after moving to the UK in 2008 and becoming a British citizen.
Mirzarafie-Ahi requested a new birth certificate from Romanian authorities, who instructed him to restart the lengthy gender recognition process in Romania rather than accepting the British documents.
“Today’s judgment shows that transgender people are equal citizens of the European Union,” said Iustina Ionescu, Mirzarafie-Ahi’s lawyer. According to the newspaper, a court in Bucharest asked the EU Court whether Romania’s decision was in line with EU law and whether Brexit had an impact on the case. The European Court ruled that Romania’s decision was illegal.
The judgment is binding on the courts of Romania and all EU member states.
The case will now return to the Romanian court, which must consider the Luxembourg decision in its final ruling.
A member state’s laws that do not recognize and record a gender and name change lawfully obtained in another member state, in this case the UK, are contrary to EU law,” the EU Court stated.
Richard Köhler, representative of Transgender Europe, called the Friday judgment a “monumental victory.” “Arian had to navigate through a legal nightmare, facing the requirements of dual citizenship and sterilization to align his legal gender in Romanian and UK documents,” he said. “Member states must recognize each other’s decisions – it is about equality and dignity. Romania must act now: Arian deserves his passport, and the country needs a legal framework to recognize foreign gender identities,” Köhler added.
Today’s judgment confirms that without mutual recognition of legal gender changes from one member state to another, transgender people in the EU are not guaranteed the right to free movement and residency. This is a huge victory,” said Marie-Hélène Ludwig, representative of the ILGA Europe LGBTI rights organization.
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