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6. B. v. France, judgment <strong>of</strong> 25 March 1992, application no. 13343/87. (Violation <strong>of</strong> Article 8<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Convention). Refusal <strong>of</strong> rectifying civil status data about a person fur<strong>the</strong>r to her<br />

change <strong>of</strong> gender<br />

[…]<br />

AS TO THE FACTS<br />

COURT (PLENARY)<br />

CASE OF B. v. FRANCE<br />

(Application no. 13343/87)<br />

JUDGMENT<br />

STRASBOURG<br />

25 March 1992<br />

I. THE PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE<br />

9. The applicant, who is a French citizen, was born in 1935 at Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, and was<br />

registered with <strong>the</strong> civil status registrar as <strong>of</strong> male sex, with <strong>the</strong> forenames Norbert Antoine.<br />

A. The background to <strong>the</strong> <strong>case</strong><br />

10. Miss B., <strong>the</strong> eldest <strong>of</strong> five children, adopted female behaviour from a very early age. She was<br />

considered as a girl by her bro<strong>the</strong>rs and sisters and is said to have had difficulty coping with a<br />

wholly segregated scholastic environment.<br />

She completed her military service in Algeria, as a man, and her behaviour at <strong>the</strong> time was<br />

noticeably homosexual.<br />

After spending five years teaching reading and writing to young persons from Kabylia, she left<br />

Algeria in 1963 and settled in Paris, working in a cabaret under an assumed name.<br />

11. Distressed by her feminine character, she suffered from attacks <strong>of</strong> nervous depression until 1967,<br />

when she was treated in hospital for a month. The doctor who treated her from 1963 observed a<br />

hypotrophy <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> male genital organs and prescribed feminising hormone <strong>the</strong>rapy, which rapidly<br />

brought about development <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> breasts and feminisation <strong>of</strong> her appearance. The applicant adopted<br />

female dress from <strong>the</strong>n on. She underwent a surgical operation in Morocco in 1972, consisting <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

removal <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> external genital organs and <strong>the</strong> creation <strong>of</strong> a vaginal cavity (see paragraph 18 below).<br />

12. Miss B. is now living with a man whom she met shortly before her operation and whom she at<br />

once informed <strong>of</strong> her situation. She is no longer working on <strong>the</strong> stage, and is said to have been<br />

unable to find employment because <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> hostile reactions she aroused.<br />

B. The proceedings brought by <strong>the</strong> applicant<br />

1. Before <strong>the</strong> Libourne tribunal de grande instance<br />

37

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