Https ldjudgmt bellin- htm accessed october house lords fitzpatrick
Sadly, Vanessa died in August 2018 and Pilkington Borough Housing Ltd have stated that Michelle cannot take over Vanessa’s tenancy because she is neither Vanessa’s spouse or part of her family under Schedule 1 Rent Act 1977, due to her self-identifying as a woman.
You are a trainee solicitor working for a firm of Solicitors in Birmingham. Michelle has asked your supervising solicitor to provide advice on whether she is legally entitled to take over Vanessa’s tenancy.
Answer:
Introduction
Gender Recognition act 2004 gives the right to an adult person to legally live in the gender that they chose to acquire instead of the one assigned to them at birth. This act gives legal recognition to a person in choosing their gender which is approved by a gender recognition panel. There are certain criteria that have to be fulfilled to get the legal recognition of another gender. This involves having gender dysphoria, living for a period of 2 years as a member of another gender and having the intention to live as a member of the other gender till death. Michelle is going to be recognised as a female gendered person because of the fact that she has decided to live as a female and has been living as a woman for 10 years and till now shows the intention of living as a woman for the rest of her life. The case of College of Nursing v. D.H.S.S. [1981] A.C. 800, 822, Lord Slynn one of the members of the house of lords stated that in case of social issues it is of importance to make sure that the judges do not use their views rather make the judgement by ensuring that the importance of change is recognised on the criteria of the ‘intention of the parliament’. So in this particular case the meaning of the word ‘Family’ has been given a more expanded explanation.
The term ‘spouse’ has been defined as a husband or a wife of a person as per the oxford English dictionary. The family has been defined by the Oxford English dictionary as a unit two people along with their children. So it can be said that the traditional definition of the terms like family and spouse are limited and doesn’t define the particular case of Vanessa and Michelle. They are both same gendered and also there is no mention of them having children so it can be assumed that they didn’t had any in such circumstances they cannot be defined as a family as per the definition in the dictionary.
Article 8 provides Michelle the opportunity to conform or enjoy her gender assigned at birth however it doesn’t force her to conform to it. It also assures Michelle that the government should not interfere with the personal life of people unless national security, public safety, economic well being of masses is hampered or disorder, crime, health issues, loss of moral is caused.
As per the case of Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza [2004] UKHL judgement it can be said that the terminology of same sex couples as member of family rather than a spouse has some disadvantages which is seen in this particular case. The rent that is to be paid under this judgement is at par the market rent which is more than the fair rent that have been paid by the deceased member during his presence. The security of the tenant is also reduced in case of the acceptance of this clause. Thus the succession right of a heterosexual couples and a homosexual couple is different and can be considered as discriminatory.
Bibliography
(Legislation.gov.uk, 2018) <https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/7/pdfs/ukpga_20040007_en.pdf> accessed 30 October 2018
'House Of Lords - Ghaidan (Appellant) V. Godin-Mendoza (FC) (Respondent)' (Publications.parliament.uk, 2018) <https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ldjudgmt/jd040621/gha-1.htm> accessed 30 October 2018
'Human Rights Act 1998' (Legislation.gov.uk, 2018) <https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/schedule/1/part/I/chapter/7> accessed 30 October 2018