Case of Hämäläinen v. Finland
European Court of Human Rights
Application No. 37359/09, July 16, 2014 (2014)
- Written by Mary Katherine Cunningham, JD
Facts
Heli Maarit Hannele Hämäläinen (plaintiff) was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1963. While Hämäläinen always felt she was female, she was born male. In 1996, Hämäläinen married a woman, and the couple had a child in 2002. In 2005, Hämäläinen sought medical help for her gender dysphoria, and in April 2006, doctors diagnosed Hämäläinen “as a transsexual.” In 2009, Hämäläinen underwent gender-reassignment surgery. While she changed her name on her passport and driver’s license, Hämäläinen was unable to change her Finnish identity number. This identity number and her passport identified Hämäläinen as male. Under Finnish law, Hämäläinen was unable to convert her gender on her identity number or passport unless she converted her marriage to her wife into a registered partnership or she divorced her wife. Hämäläinen filed an application against the government of Finland at the European Court of Human Rights. Hämäläinen argued the law violated Articles 8 and 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the convention) by conditioning her gender identity on the dissolution of her preexisting relationship to her wife.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)
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