sexual orientation and/or gender identity. On 11 July 2015, the bill passed the lower house, and on 9 August 2015 it passed the upper house. On 16 August 2015, the Irish President signed the bill into law, and the legislation went into effect immediately. Military service Lesbian, gay and bisexual people can serve openly in the Irish Defence Forces. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is illegal. There has been no preclusion since 1993 when male homosexuality was decriminalised in the Republic of Ireland. Since 1993, there has been significant change to make sure that there was no discrimination in terms of public policy. At the same time as an equal age of consent was introduced for heterosexual and homosexual persons, the Irish Defence Forces announced that they would be treating heterosexual and homosexual members equally. Relationships between senior and junior ranks would continue to be forbidden, as is common in most militaries. There would also be no harassment of gay officers and no questioning of members about their sexuality. The Irish Independent wrote in 1993 that: Information regarding sexual orientation is not sought from personnel wishing to enlist in the Defence Forces. The Defence Forces have a code on interpersonal relationships and guidelines in relation to discrimination. Transgender rights On 19 October 2007, Dr. Lydia Foy won her case in the High Court which ruled that the failure to allow her to obtain a new birth certificate recording her gender as female was in breach of her rights under the ECHR. The government appealed this decision but dropped its appeal in June 2010 and stated it would introduce legislation in the future. A new government took office in February 2011 and following the report of an advisory committee in July 2011, the Minister responsible announced that the government would introduce gender recognition legislation as soon as possible. No legislation had been introduced by February 2013 and Foy commenced new legal proceedings seeking to enforce the decision made by the High Court in 2007. In June 2014, a gender recognition bill was announced and in September 2014, the government stated that it would be published by the end of the year. The bill was introduced on 19 December 2014. On 15 July 2015, the Gender Recognition Act 2015 () with major amendments passed both houses of the Oireachtas and President Michael D. Higgins signed the bill into law on