Ananova:

A former NHS nurse has began a legal challenge against Health Secretary Alan Milburn over the refusal to allow her transsexual "husband" to benefit from her pension when she dies.

She is arguing that the operation of the NHS pension scheme discriminates against herself and her partner, who was born a woman, on the grounds of his sex.

The case at the Court of Appeal also embraces European human rights legislation on family life - UK law bars transsexuals from altering their birth certificates, and they therefore cannot marry a person of the same birth gender.

The court has ordered anonymity for the nurse, who sat at the back of the courtroom without her partner. The pair are both in their 40s and live in the West Country.

She and the partner went through an adapted Church of England marriage ceremony conducted by a minister with the approval of a bishop who knew their case.

Miss Laura Cox QC, representing the nurse, told Lords Justices Aldous, Brooke and Sedley that the case had been referred to them by the Employment Appeal Tribunal because of the "fundamental human rights" elements.

"This court must rule on the extent to which the respondent (the Secretary of State) violates European Convention rights," she said.

She says her client, a nurse and care manager for 20 years, is being backed by the legal rights pressure group Justice, and the Equal Opportunities Commission, which believe that the refusal to allow her partner to take the pension is direct sexual discrimination.