The government has revealed legislation which will allow transsexuals to alter their gender on official paperwork.

The draft bill will allow transsexuals to change the stated gender on their birth certificate.

Whilst transsexuals can currently change their name and sex on passports it is not possible to alter other documents.

The bill will also give transsexuals powers to marry a partner of the same birth sex as themselves.

"It is fundamental to an inclusive society that individuals and groups be given the rights to which they are legitimately entitled and wherever possible be allowed to live their lives as they determine and free of discrimination," said constitutional affairs minister Lord Filkin.

"The draft bill will ensure that transsexual people can now take up all their fundamental rights including the right to respect for private and family life and the right to marry."

"I believe that the Gender Recognition Bill is farsighted," he added.

"It honours the government's commitment to guarantee the rights of transsexual people and brings us into line with the overwhelming majority of our European partners.

"It establishes a robust and authoritative process that will sustain a credible system for the future giving transsexual people the legal recognition to which they are entitled."

Under current UK law transsexual or same-sex marriage remains illegal.

But a recent EU judgement increased pressure on ministers to begin a legislative overhaul.

The European Court of Justice found in favour of a transsexual UK worker who claimed the NHS was discriminatory in its provision of widows' pensions.

The government argued that pension provision commitments for her partner could not be met, as the couple were not married and could not be so under UK law.

Criticising that argument, the court judged that Britain had to give "full effect" to EU rights laws in order to prevent discrimination of this kind.

A previous ruling by the European Court of Human Rights last July said that the ban on marriage contravened Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

But the House of Lords, asked to rule on a previous case of discrimination by the government, said that only parliament could change the legal rights of transsexuals.