Finland Times

 

File picture of same-sex female couple. Photo – Lehtikuva.

Seta, the national organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTI) rights in Finland, has slated the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of a Finnish transsexual.

 

“The court found that it was not disproportionate to require the conversion of a marriage into a registered partnership as a precondition to legal recognition of an acquired gender as that was a genuine option which provided legal protection for same-sex couples that was almost identical to that of marriage,” said the registrar of the court in a statement.

 

Finland thus, according to the Grand Chamber, did not discriminate against transsexual male-to-female on refusal to grant change of personal identity number to indicate her female gender.

 

The judgement was given on Wednesday by the Grand Chamber judges by a majority of 14 to 3.

 

The case concerns a complaint made by a male-to-female transsexual that she could only obtain full recognition of her new gender by having her marriage turned into a civil partnership.

 

Seta Vice President Mikko Väisänen told the news agency STT that the decision by ECTHR in relation to its previous unanimous stance could be taken as a step forward. Out of the 17 Grand Chamber judges, three had expressed separate opinions.

 

Väisänen also hopes that the decision would trigger a new debate in the country.