Christine's Story

Christine, a trans woman, was unable to marry because of the UK's laws on gender recognition (or lack of). At the time, there was no provision for trans people to have their legal gender changed or recognised in UK law. Christine thought this was a violation of her right to marry (as well as her right to family life and to be free from discrimination), so she took a human rights case to court. 

The court agreed and ruled that Christine's right to marry and found a family, and her right to family life, had been unjustifiably infringed. This led to a change in UK law. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 now allows trans people to obtain legal recognition of their gender, and once they have done that, to get married.

(Goodwin v UK 2002)