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http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4749478
Devout Christian Loses Legal Challenge to Gender Laws
A devout Christian today lost his High Court battle against new laws which allow people who undergo sex change operations also to change the gender registered on their birth certificates.
John Allman, a member of the Elim Pentecostal church, claimed the Gender Recognition Act was a threat to people for whom it would be a mortal sin to marry and make love to someone of the same birth sex.
The Act, which came into force in April, took away an important safeguard against unknowingly committing a sin, his counsel Dr Michael Arnheim told a judge.
Dr Arnheim said the new law was designed “to hoodwink people” as it meant they could no longer check a prospective marriage partner’s sexual orientation at birth.
He said: “Sex before marriage is anathema for religiously devout people, such as Christians, Jews or Muslims.
“Finding out the truth after marriage and sexual union would be too late.”
But Mr Justice Sullivan, sitting in London, rejected the challenge by Mr Allman, from Knaresborough, North Yorks, as “fanciful, far fetched and “Alice in Wonderland”.
The judge said: “The claimant contends the Act violates his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights because he is a committed Christian male in mortal fear of having a sexual relationship with someone who is biologically male by birth.”
But there was no arguable infringement with his right to a private and family life under Article 8 of the convention, freedom of religion under Article 9 and freedom to receive information under Article 10.
Later Mr Allman, who was ordered to pay £1,444 legal costs for bringing his failed challenge, said outside court he had in fact been married for three years and there was no real prospect of him personally marrying a transgender person.
He said he had brought his legal challenge to alert others to the fact that the Gender Recognition Act was now in force and that it posed a danger for the devout of many faiths.
He added: “I am married, though they didn’t go into the facts in court.
“As a matter of fact I checked my wife Mpumi’s passport within a week of meeting her because I had become aware that this was a problem.”
“She now knows about that and thinks it was the right thing to do.”
A devout Christian today lost his High Court battle against new laws which allow people who undergo sex change operations also to change the gender registered on their birth certificates.
John Allman, a member of the Elim Pentecostal church, claimed the Gender Recognition Act was a threat to people for whom it would be a mortal sin to marry and make love to someone of the same birth sex.
The Act, which came into force in April, took away an important safeguard against unknowingly committing a sin, his counsel Dr Michael Arnheim told a judge.
Dr Arnheim said the new law was designed “to hoodwink people” as it meant they could no longer check a prospective marriage partner’s sexual orientation at birth.
He said: “Sex before marriage is anathema for religiously devout people, such as Christians, Jews or Muslims.
“Finding out the truth after marriage and sexual union would be too late.”
But Mr Justice Sullivan, sitting in London, rejected the challenge by Mr Allman, from Knaresborough, North Yorks, as “fanciful, far fetched and “Alice in Wonderland”.
The judge said: “The claimant contends the Act violates his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights because he is a committed Christian male in mortal fear of having a sexual relationship with someone who is biologically male by birth.”
But there was no arguable infringement with his right to a private and family life under Article 8 of the convention, freedom of religion under Article 9 and freedom to receive information under Article 10.
Later Mr Allman, who was ordered to pay £1,444 legal costs for bringing his failed challenge, said outside court he had in fact been married for three years and there was no real prospect of him personally marrying a transgender person.
He said he had brought his legal challenge to alert others to the fact that the Gender Recognition Act was now in force and that it posed a danger for the devout of many faiths.
He added: “I am married, though they didn’t go into the facts in court.
“As a matter of fact I checked my wife Mpumi’s passport within a week of meeting her because I had become aware that this was a problem.”
“She now knows about that and thinks it was the right thing to do.”