A man who changed his name and gender identity in Britain successfully challenged to have them legally recognized by Romania. “I’m representing everyone who is affected.”
The European Union’s top court on Friday said governments in the bloc must recognize legal changes to a person’s gender identity and name made in other E.U. nations, a milestone ruling that rights campaigners say will give transgender people more freedom to live and work around the region.
The decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union came after a British-Romanian transgender person challenged a decision by a local civil record authority in a Bucharest court. The authority had rejected his application in 2021 to change his gender identity on official documents.
The ruling applies to all countries in the European Union, and deems it a violation of a citizen’s rights not to acknowledge a person’s legal changes to their gender identity. Rights campaigners said the ruling was groundbreaking.
It could open pathways for transgender people who do not have their gender identities officially recognized in other countries of the European Union and face a range of difficulties as a result, they said.
“I really look forward to seeing how this benefits the younger generation,” said Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi, the key plaintiff in the case, in a Friday interview, adding that the ruling was emotionally moving. “It just felt like they were standing up. They were standing up for the situation that I’ve been finding myself in,” he said.
“You cannot have double standards anymore,” said Teodora Ion-Rotaru, co-president for the advocacy group Accept, adding that she found that some Eastern European nations still fostered a culture of discrimination toward transgender people. “It’s a message for this government that this is no longer applicable and acceptable.”