Transsexual Legal Rights in the United States and United Kingdom: Employment, Medical Treatment, and Civil Status

Whereas hormonal and surgical sex change have been increasingly refined and accepted medically during the past 40 years, legal protections have only recently received attention. This overview focuses on employment, medical treatment, and civil status as male or female in the United States and the United Kingdom. Employment protection in the UK is assured since a court decision in 1994, but in the U.S. is generally uncertain and inconsistent between states. Health care, including surgery, under the UK National Health Service, is assured since a court decision in 1996. In the U.S., the absence of a national insurance program and the reluctance of private insurers to fund treatment remains an obstacle. Military personnel and prisoners are provided treatment in the UK but there is no military-provided treatment in the U.S. and prison treatment is limited. Change in birth certificate sex status is available in the UK since 2004. This permits heterosexual marriage as a person of the reassigned sex. In the U.S., whereas nearly all states permit birth certificate modification, obstacles remain to recognition across state jurisdictions. Some states forbid marriage for a transsexual as a person of their reassigned sex. This can impact on transsexuals as parents.