Transgender woman becomes first to enter Irish same-sex partnership

http://www.thejournal.ie/transgender-woman-becomes-first-to-enter-irish-same-sex-partnership-399090-Mar2012/?utm_source=shortlink

SOCIAL PROTECTION minister Joan Burton is drafting legislation to address a legal problem where transgender people can only enter a civil partnership if their new gender was recognised abroad.

The loophole arose after it emerged that a transgender woman was able to enter into a civil partnership with her partner under the Civil Partnership Act introduced in 2010, even though the State currently has no mechanism to formally acknowledge the acquired gender of a transgender person.

The woman's gender was officially recognised by the Civil Registration Service because their gender had been acquired in another state.

Burton said the circumstances had come about because the transgender woman, who is from another EU country, had her acquired gender recognised in her country of origin.