The European Union’s top court ruled its 27 member nations are obliged to recognize legal changes to gender identity anywhere within the bloc.
What's new: The Court of Justice of the European Union, ruling in favor of Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi on Friday, said his home country of Romania must accept his name and the gender identity changes he began in the United Kingdom before it withdrew from the E.U.
It found Romania's refusal to update his identity documents violated his rights to citizenship and free movement. Mirzarafie-Ahi, who lives in Cambridge and founded the Mirzarafie Center for Biology Excellence, asked Romanian authorities in May 2021 to make the changes and provide a new birth certificate. He became a British citizen in 2016, the year Brexit passed, and later received a gender recognition certificate.
"Gender, like a first name, is a fundamental element of personal identity," the court said. "A divergence between identities resulting from such a refusal of recognition creates difficulties for a person in proving his or her identity in daily life as well as serious professional, administrative and private inconvenience."
What's next: The legally binding ruling could have a broader impact by clearing the path for thousands of other transgender people to travel freely in E.U. member nations.
"The importance of this judgment extends beyond the applicant’s individual circumstance, and underscores the broader issue faced by trans people," said several advocacy organizations, ACCEPT, TGEU and ILGA-Europe, in welcoming the ruling. "The judgement confirms the principle that rights legally obtained in one member state must remain valid throughout the E.U."
