For previous discussion and criticism of the Corbett decision see, for example, GreenD., ‘Transsexualism and Marriage’, (1970) 120New Law Journal210; DavidE.S., ‘The Law and Transsexualism: A Faltering Response to a Conceptual Dilemma’, (1975) 7Connecticut Law Review288; SamuelsA., ‘Once a Man, Always a Man; Once a Woman, Always a Woman — Sex Change and the Law’, (1984) Medicine and Science Law163; DewarJ.‘Transsexualism and Marriage’, (1985) 15Kingston Law Review58; and TaitzJ., ‘The Law Relating to the Consummation of Marriage where one of the Spouses is a Post-Operative Transsexual’, (1986) 15Anglo-American Law Review141.
2.
See Dec C.P. 6/76 National Insurance Commissioner Decisions; E.A. White v British Sugar Corporation [1977] IRLR 121; Social Security Decision numbers R (P) 1 and R (P) 2 [1980] National Insurance Commissioner Decisions; R v Tan [1983] QB 1053; Peterson v Peterson, The Times, 12 July 1985; Franklin v Franklin [1990] The Scotsman, 9 November; Collins v Wilkin Chapman [1994] EAT/945/93 (Transcript); S-T (formerly J) v J [1997] 3 WLR 1287, [1998] 1 All ER 431.
3.
Anonymous v Anonymous 67 Misc. 2d 982; 325 N.Y.S. 2d 499 (Sup. Ct. 1971); B v B 78 Misc. 2d 112, 355 N.Y.S. 2d 712 (Sup Ct. 1974).
4.
Indeed, a concern with one's own sexual pleasure is not typically read as a sign of ‘authentic’ transsexual identity within the medical arena. See BenjaminH., The Transsexual Phemomenon, The Julian Press, Inc, NY, 1966, pp.13–14, 54; MoneyJ. and PrimroseC., ‘Sexual Dimorphism and Dissociation in the Psychology of Male Transsexuals’, in Green and Money, (eds), Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment, The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, P., 1969, pp.121–2; StollerR.J., ‘Male Transsexualism: Uneasiness’, (1973) 130American Journal of Psychiatry536–9.
5.
In this case the United States Tennis Association had required Renee Richards to pass the Barr (chromosomal) body test in order to be eligible to participate in the women's singles of the United States Open. The Supreme Court held that requirement to be ‘grossly unfair, discriminatory and inequitable, and violative of her rights under the Human Rights Law of this State’.
The appellants had been charged in relation to their offer to perform fellatio on a vice squad officer. The emphasis on both ‘psychological and anatomical harmony’ and heterosexual capacity occasioned by surgery has also proved crucial in other Australian transgender cases. See Secretary, Department of Social Security v HH [1991] 13 AAR 314; Secretary, Department of Social Security v SRA [1993] 118 ALR 467.
8.
Phalloplasty refers to the construction of a penis in a female to male transgender person. See WaltersW.A.W. and RossM.W. (1986) Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment. Oxford University Press, p.113.
9.
The test of ‘psychological and anatomical harmony’ was supplanted with a test of ‘psychological, social and cultural harmony’ by the Social Security and Administrative Appeals tribunals in Secretary, Department of Social Security v SRA [1992] 28 ALD 361. This decision was overturned on appeal to the Federal Court and its legal reasoning emphatically rejected ([1993] 118 ALR 467).
