Transgender pioneer Dr Lydia Foy wins prize in Brussels

Dr Lydia Foy whose 22-year battle forced the Government to change the law on transgender people, received the prestigious Citizen’s Prize from the European Parliament in Brussels.

With her were many members of her family and solicitor Michael Farrell from FLAC, the free legal advice centres, who fought against a system that refused to recognise the existence of trans people in Ireland.

Dr Foy, a retired dentist appealed for Irish people to “treasure diversity”.

She was nominated for the award by the four Sinn Féin members of the European Parliament — Martina Anderson, Lynn Boylan, Liadh Ní Riada and Matt Carthy.

Despite trans people being able to have their true gender on their birth certificate — she was the first in Ireland to receive her’s last month — she said while the legal battle has been won, there is still much to do.

“Society has to catch up now, to be inclusive and totally open”, she said. People must adopt a more tolerant attitude, including in rural areas, and especially parents who are estranged from gay or lesbian children.

While Ireland is frequently quick to sign European law, the State is often slow to enact it, and she is particularly anxious that the needs of transgender children be provided for.

The legislation makes Ireland one of just four countries that allows trans people to be recognised on the basis of self-determination, and means that trans people “are no longer reliant on a psychiatrist to tell us who we are”. But it made it almost impossible for young people to have their true gender recognised until they reach their majority, she said.

She said she and her solicitor, Mr Farrell, in fact had two achievements — the first was finding the State contravened the European Convention on Human Rights despite facing the “worst form of adversarial legal system”.

Several members of TENI, the Transgender Equality Network Ireland, were at the ceremony. Director Broden Giambrone said that while legislation is incredibly important, in reality people’s lives can be very difficult.

School can be really tough for transgender children and adults face discrimination with only 51% of trans people in work, he said.

The TENI members meet MEPs today for discussions, just a week after the parliament’s main political group, the European People’s Party, of which Fine Gael is a member, voted against supporting transgender people in an equality report.

Munster MEP Deirdre Clune said she went against the party whip and voted in favour, calling for more support for transgender people.

“The majority of European countries require transgender people to undergo surgery and sterilisation, or be diagnosed with a mental disorder and get divorced, to have their desired gender legally recognised”, she said.