The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that European Union member state Romania must accept the new gender identity of a woman who has ‘transitioned,’ and now considers herself to be a man. The ruling will have far-reaching consequences, as conservative EU governments that reject the notion of gender identity will now have little choice but to adhere to LGBT ideology.
According to the ruling published on Friday, October 4th, the refusal of Romanian authorities to recognise the gender identity of a British-Romanian ‘transgender man’—i.e., a woman who identifies as a man—infringed on human rights and contravened European law.
Critics of the ruling suggest that it will further impinge upon state sovereignty, paving the way for national parliaments’ competencies to be subordinated to Brussels’ norms and rules.
The case revolves around a Romanian national, a 32-year-old biology teacher who now goes by the name of Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi who moved to the United Kingdom in 2008, acquired British citizenship, and retained Romanian nationality. Mirzarafie-Ahi began ‘transitioning’ in 2016, changed first name and title (‘pronouns’) from female to male in 2017, and obtained legal recognition of male gender identity in 2020 (when the UK was still part of the EU).
One year later, Mirzarafie-Ahi requested that the Romanian authorities officially register the changes and issue a new birth certificate which would include a change to first name, sex, and personal identification number.
The Romanian authorities refused those requests and invited Mirzarafie-Ahi to go to court. Afterward, the Romanian court asked the ECJ whether its refusal to recognise the change of gender identity complies with EU law.
The European court ruled that it is contrary to EU law for a member state to refuse to recognise an identity lawfully acquired in another member state. The court emphasised that Romania’s refusal to recognise this person’s gender identity hindered the exercise of the right to free movement and residence within the EU. Romania’s inaction also creates difficulties for Mirzarafie-Ahi in providing identification in daily life, the court ruled.
Romanian LGBT rights organisation ACCEPT said the ruling sets a precedent for transgender people. It should prevent a situation where national gender recognition documents are not acknowledged elsewhere in the EU, harming the ability of people identifying as transgender to travel freely, reside, work, study, or vote across the bloc, they said.
The decision could spark a new round of legal battles, as the ruling effectively undermines laws in conservative EU countries that do not allow people to legally change their gender. Rodrigo Ballester, of the Budapest-based Mathias Corvinus Collegium think tank said of the ruling:
Utterly shocking and very banal at the same time. Once again, the European Court of Justice tramples over basic legal principles for ideological purposes and erodes member states’ competences through ludicrous reasonings. Its ultimate goal is not to enforce the law, but to force further integration.
As a sign of gender ideology creeping into EU institutions, the ECJ ruling consistently refers to Arian Mirzarafie-Ahi as a ‘man,’ using the pronoun ‘he.’
Lois McLatchie Miller, a spokesman for the Alliance Defending Freedom International campaign told The Telegraph:
No individual, nor government, should be forced to affirm something that is untrue. Men cannot become women, and claiming this can have severe consequences in many areas of life.
Socially conservative Romania does not allow same-sex marriage and civil partnerships for same-sex couples. A ruling last year by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)—a non-EU court based in Strasbourg—struck a similar tone in relation to Romania, stating that the country is violating the rights of same-sex couples by refusing to legally recognise their unions. The ECHR recently chided Poland for the same reasons.
