B v France (Application No. 13343/87)

In brief

The European Court of Human Rights held that France’s refusal to allow a post-operative trans woman to amend her civil-status documents constituted a breach of Article 8 (right to respect for private life). The Court accepted that French law and administrative practice produced concrete and continuing difficulties (employment records, identity documents, banking) that were disproportionate to any state interest. The first trans-positive Article 8 outcome at Strasbourg.

Key provisions

• Article 8 ECHR — civil-status registration where daily difficulties arise: Where a state’s civil-status system imposes ongoing concrete prejudice on a trans applicant, refusal to amend documents breaches Article 8.

When relevant

When tracing the historical development of ECHR jurisprudence on legal gender recognition. When a respondent argues that ECHR protection of trans applicants is a recent development.