Isle of Man drafts gender recognition legislation

By Lucy Durnin • April 18, 2008 - 11:08

80,000 people live on the Isle of Man

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Transsexual people on the Isle of Man will have their new gender recognised by law under draft legislation.

Under The Gender Recognition Bill 2008, a person who has had a sex change operation and has a full gender recognition certificate will have their new status legally recognised.

The draft bill has been published by the government and is based on similar legislation introduced in the UK, the Gender Recognition Act released in 2004.

The public are now being invited to comment on the draft bill.

Chief Minister Tony Brown said: "The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights means that the
Isle of Man is under an international legal obligation to change its law to recognise transsexual people in their new gender.

"I would now like to give the general public an opportunity to submit any comments that they may have."

The main points of the Bill include allowing a transsexual person who has been issued with a full gender recognition certificate to be legally regarded as being of their acquired gender, and that a transsexual will be able to marry a person of the opposite gender to their acquired gender.

The Bill also states that the General Registry will establish a strictly confidential Gender Recognition Register to record the details of all gender recognition certificates that have been offered to the Chief Registrar.

An explanatory paper on the gender Recognition Bill 2008 is now available from the Isle of Man government office, or on its website www.gov.im.

80,000 people live on the Isle of Man.

It has its own legal system, but is a British Crown dependency,

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