Settlement in gender reassignment case

The Government has reached a settlement with Joanne Cassar, who had taken Malta before the European Court of Human Rights when she was banned from marrying after having had a sex-change operation. Informed sources said the government will amend the law that could ultimately lead to her being allowed to marry a man. The 31-year-old hairdresser told the European Court that Malta had breached her rights by refusing to issue marriage banns after her gender was changed to female on her birth certificate. When contacted by timesofmalta.com, Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli confirmed that the new Labour Government was planning to reach an agreement with Ms Cassar over her court case and amend the law. The minister said that further details would be given during a press conference scheduled for tomorrow morning. One of Ms Cassar’s lawyers, David Camilleri, said that over the past weeks he had meetings with Government representatives over the case. He, however, preferred not to divulge further information at this stage. Ms Cassar had surgery in the UK when she was 22 after being diagnosed with gender identity disorder, a conflict between a person’s physical gender and...