Struggling to assert sexuality within society can be fraught.

Nigel Hanson hears a range of experiences.

Stephen Whittle, 49

Reader in law at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), teaches contemporary legal studies.

Underwent female-to-male gender reassignment in 1975 and has since campaigned tirelessly for transsexual people's rights, receiving a human rights award from Liberty and Justice in 2002.

His partner, Sarah Rutherford, has given birth to four daughters by sperm donation.

His eldest daughter Eleanor, 11, recently addressed an international conference on her experience of living in a non-traditional family.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Mr Whittle says he endured 'terrible job experiences'.

He worked mainly in project and financial management, but was forced out by prejudice.

In one dispute with an employer, he was told that if he persisted in his complaint, his personal history would be passed to a newspaper.

'I realised I could never say I was going to keep a job,' he says.

Later, he project-managed small construction jobs, retaining independence by being self-employed.

At the age of 30, he enrolled for a part-time law degree at MMU, graduating five years later before completing a masters and PhD.

He has found academia a more tolerant environment.

Campaigning through Press for Change since 1992, he has raised the profile of transsexual issues in the media, particularly women's magazines.

He lobbied Alex Carlisle QC to launch a private members Bill on gender reassignment in 1994 - the first time it was aired in Parliament.

Jan Doerfel, 31

Pupil barrister at 8 King's Bench Walk, London

LLM in international human rights law at Essex University.

Worked for three years with UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, in Geneva, before founding a non-governmental organisation, the International Research Centre on Social Minorities, in 2003, which lobbies UN bodies to pay greater attention to human rights violations perpetrated on grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation.

Mr Doerfel, a female-to-male transsexual lawyer, hopes to specialise in the area of discrimination on grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation.

He says: 'There are still quite a few areas of discrimination over transsexuality.

I don't think it will be the end of the matter when the Gender Recognition Bill goes through - the issues won't stop with the legislation; there will still be questions of application and challenges.' Much remains to be done internationally, he adds: 'Transsexual and transgender people continue to be subjected to serious human rights violations, including physical attacks and extra-judicial killings in many parts of the world for "transgressing" gender barriers.'

Anonymous solicitor

The experience of one male-to-female transsexual solicitor, who has asked not to be named, suggests discrimination may not be a major problem within the legal profession.

She qualified in 1978 and, after specialising in property, became an equity partner with a medium-sized London firm.

She 'transitioned' in 1997, winning support from partners after informing them of the situation in a boardroom meeting.

A tabloid newspaper seemed determined to 'out' her at the time, forcing her to give an interview, but her fellow partners wanted only an assurance that business would not be affected.