Civil Court of Athens No 418/2016 June 2016
Sterilisation cannot be required in legal gender recognition
The applicant, a transgender man, had applied in April 2015 before a Civil Court in Athens to a change of name and gender marker. The Court of first instance granted the request as the applicant even though he had not undergone gender reassignment surgery, which until then was deemed necessary for gender recognition. Inter alia the Court reasoned:
[…] At the discretion of the Court, [lack of sterilization surgery] should not be considered a hindrance for the changes requested to the birth certificate. Specifically, compulsory sterilization, whereby surgical gender reassignment resulting in the removal of the genitalia of a female to male arena and vice versa, as a precondition for the recognition of a change in gender for a transgender individual, as the applicant is deemed to be, is an disproportionate prerequisite and practice and infringes Article 8 of the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) according to which “Everyone has the right to respect for private and family life.” Also, the above obligations are in direct conflict with the right to equality and non-discrimination laid out in Articles 2 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). […]