The Attorney General has appealed from a court decision giving Joanne Cassar the right to marry a man after her gender reassignment surgery.

Four years ago, Ms Cassar and her then partner applied for marriage banns but the Marriage Registrar refused to issue the banns even if Ms Cassar had legally changed her gender to female on her birth certificate after the surgery.

In February 2007, the civil court ordered the issue of the banns but the decision was revoked in May 2008 when a judge ruled Ms Cassar would never be considered to be a “woman” according to the Marriage Act. The court also declared the change in her birth certificate, allowing a change of name and gender, was only intended to protect the right to privacy and to avoid embarrassment.

But Ms Cassar would not give up and opened a case in the First Hall of the Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction, claiming a breach of human rights. She won the case last month.