24 May 2006
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, lived as a man until her 20s. 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 against that decision 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.
In its ruling yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights said
her rights had been breached after the British government refused
to recognise her female status. The judges said there had been no
justification for failing to recognise her sex-change situation
from the moment of the Goodwin judgment, and not giving her a
pension at 60 violated her "right to respect for private and family
life".
Ms Grant was awarded £1,100 in damages and £19,000
in costs.
