Summary
In 2002, a church in South Wales was sued for refusing to recognise a transsexual as a woman. Thankfully his case was thrown out of the court.
In 2002 Revd William Parry, a man who had a sex change operation, sued a church which refused to allow him to attend the ladies' prayer meeting and to use the ladies' toilets. The father of three wanted a court to order Maesteg Christian Centre in Bridgend, South Wales, to recognize him as a woman.
Mr Parry had been attending the church for two years and had asked to be allowed to attend the ladies' prayer meeting and use the ladies' toilets. The church and its pastor, Alex Ashton, refused for the simple reason that Mr Parry was a man. Mr Parry sued the church under his assumed name, Dian Parry, arguing it was breaking sex discrimination laws.
Mr Parry was no stranger to using litigation against people as a means to get them to accept him as a woman. Two years previously Parry won a £6,000 out of court settlement against a beauty therapy course. Three months later he forced the Welsh equivalent of the Women's Institute to accept him.1
However, Maesteg Christian Centre was determined to take a stand. They realised that if Mr Parry succeeded in using the law to get his way, not only would they suffer, but other churches would face the same threat too. With the help of a barrister and The Christian Institute, the church applied to the court to strike out the legal action. The judge, whilst expressing sympathy for Mr Parry, agreed there was no law to support his case and it was thrown out.2
- 1The Western Mail, 17 April 2002, see http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid
=11793469%26method=full%26siteid=50082-name_page.html as at 16 June 2006 - 2The Western Mail, 16 February 2002; and South Wales Echo, 16 February 2002
