A YORK couple want the law to be changed so they can remain married after

the husband undergoes a sex swap operation to become a woman.

The couple - who have been married for 35 years and have three children -

fear the wife will lose her pension rights unless the Government's Gender

Recognition Bill is changed.

The alternative is to force the man not to register his new sex after the

operation - even though he wants to do so.

The case - which will be one of the first of its kind in the UK - was raised

in the House of Commons by York MP Hugh Bayley last night.

He is backing the couple's call for the Bill, which allows transsexuals legal recognition in their new sex for the first time, to be amended.

Mr Bayley said the wife had not worked full-time since their first child was born 32 years ago.

She stayed at home to raise the children and relied on her husband to make

pension contributions to provide her security in old age.

But the Bill creates a "conflict" between the rights of the wife to have financial security and the rights of her partner to legal recognition in a new gender.

Mr Bayley explained: "The conflict arises because the Bill will require a couple to divorce before the full gender recognition certificate and,

therefore, the new birth certificate can be issued in the transsexual's new

gender.

"If a divorce goes ahead, pension-splitting procedures will, of course, follow, but they are almost certain to reduce the pension entitlement of both partners."

The couple do not want to divorce, he said.

Mr Bayley went on: "They care for, support and love each other, and they want the care and support that

they mutually offer each other to continue in the years ahead."

Mr Bayley said the ideal solution would be for the couple to remain married

after the man has changed sex - even though same sex marriages were not

allowed.

He told the Commons: "I believe that it is fundamentally wrong for the state

to tell a couple who are married and wish to remain married to divorce."

Junior Constitutional Affairs Minister David Lammy promised the Government was "looking closely" at pension arrangements.

Transsexuals would not be forced to apply for a full gender recognition certificate and couples would be covered by up-coming civil partnership

legislation, he said.

Updated: 10:35 Tuesday, February 24, 2004