The European Court of Justice has ruled that the UK discriminated against a married transgender woman seeking a state pension. The claimant sought a state pension at the age available for women after her sex change.
Image: Reuters/F. Lenoir
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The UK discriminated against a married transgender woman by refusing her a state pension unless she annulled her marriage, the European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday.
The claimant, only named as MB by the court, was born a male in 1948 and married a woman in 1974.
In 1991, MB began to live as a woman and had sex reassignment surgery in 1995.
MB sought a state retirement pension in 2008 at the age of 60, as allowed for women born before April 1950. For men born before December 1953, the British retirement age is 65. (New legislation is gradually introducing a gender-neutral retirement age of 66 in Britain.)
However, the UK denied MB the state pension at age 60 because she had not acquired a gender reassignment certificate, which under national legislation could only be granted if a transgender person annulled their marriage.
A law allowing same-sex marriage in the UK that came into force in 2014 altered the annulment requirement, instead mandating that a married person's spouse consent in order for the transgender person to receive the gender recognition certificate.
MB had argued she did not want to annul the marriage for religious reasons.
The case went to the UK's Supreme Court; its judges sent it to the European Court of Justice. The EU court found that the UK had discriminated based on sex.
"A person who has changed gender cannot be required to annul the marriage which he or she entered into before that change of gender in order to be entitled to receive a retirement pension at the age provided for persons of the sex which he or she has acquired," the court ruled.
Transgender models on magazine covers
Transgender models on magazine covers are no new phenomenon in an increasingly diverse world. These athletes and actresses have already hit the newsstands with a splash.
Giuliana Farfalla, German Playboy
A first for the German edition of Playboy: Reality television star and model Giuliana Farfalla made it to the cover of the magazine, published a week ahead of her appearance in the show "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!" The 21-year-old also appeared on "Germany's Next Top Model" in hopes to "encourage other transgender and transsexual people," she said.
Image: Playboy/Christopher von Steinbach
Caroline 'Tula' Cossey, Playboy
Playboy's first-ever transgender model, Caroline "Tula" Cossey, starred in a pictorial feature in 1981 (the above picture shows her on a later cover, from the 1990s). She, too, was fighting for recognition transgender rights. Hugh Hefner's son Cooper, now the creative director of Playboy Enterprises, said featuring transgender models was "the right thing to do."
Laverne Cox, Time Magazine
A trailblazer for the transgender community, Laverne Cox became the first openly transgender person to appear on the cover of Time magazine in 2014. Cox is known to a wider audience for her role as a trans woman prisoner, the hairdresser Sophia Burset, on the popular Netflix series "Orange is the New Black."
National Geographic special issue on gender
Featuring a nine-year-old transgender person on its cover, the January 2017 special issue looked at how young people from around the world, "old enough to have sage views on gender," are affected by gender issues. The issue also examined challenges for girls today — including anonymous bullying and body-shaming — and how "society makes a man."
Caitlyn Jenner, Vanity Fair
Former Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner publicly announced the name change to Caitlyn and her identity as a trans woman in a July 2015 Vanity Fair cover story. She also starred in the docu-series "I Am Cait," which documented her gender transition and subsequent new life as a woman.
Amelia Gapin, Women's Running
In July 2016, marathon runner Amelia Gapin was featured on the cover of Women's Running. "Being a transgender woman on the cover of a magazine dedicated to women says people like me are not just being seen, but being seen for who we are," she told the magazine in an interview. "It's a feeling of acceptance, inclusivity and being welcomed."
Hari Nef, Elle UK
Featured on the cover of Elle UK in September 2016, US actor and model Hari Nef would rather not be defined by gender. "'In an ideal world, I wouldn't have to change my body," she told the magazine. "I wouldn't have to do all this stuff, I wouldn't have to be pretty, or 'feminine' and people would respect that."
Valentina Sampaio, Vogue Paris
Vogue Paris put a transgender model on its cover for the first time in March 2017: Brazil's Valentina Sampaio. "The day when a transsexual poses for a magazine cover and it will be no longer necessary to write an editorial on the subject, we will know that the fight has been won," said the fashion magazine's editor-in-chief Emmanuelle Alt.
Ben Melzer, Men's Health Germany
Muscle-packed arms, a six-pack and a beard: Ben Melzer, the first openly male transgender model to star on the cover of Men's Health, also hopes he can change attitudes. He underwent the change from woman to man at age 23. He's now, he says, "the person I always wanted to be." He wants to be an example for others who feel they were "born in the wrong body," adding, "it is 100 percent worth it."
