Transsexual Natasha Thoday is today taking her fight to have her status fully recognised by UK law to Westminster.

The supply teacher says she lives in fear because she is not legally recognised as a woman.

Every day she copes with the knowledge that under current UK law she could be sent to a male prison, prevented from using female toilets and could not marry a man.

Today she was due to meet MP Rosie Winston, minister for family affairs with new responsibility for transsexuals, in London, to ask her when the law will be changed.

Brighton-based Ms Thoday, 35, said: "I feel vulnerable and frightened because I am not legally recognised. I run the risk of being outed every time I am asked for my national insurance number or my birth certificate.

"I had to gather so much courage to come out to the world as a woman in the first place. I did consider committing suicide. To then have to deal with the law not recognising me is difficult. I shouldn't have to justify my existence."

Out of 40 countries in the European Union, the UK is one of the few to not legally recognise transsexuals.

Ms Thoday, who has lived as a woman for two years, said: "We have just as much right to a life as people with cerebral palsy or MS.

"If transsexuals were fully recognised legally it would differentiate us from transvestites or drag queens. I don't go home and turn into a bloke, I am a woman all the time."

A working party Government report on transsexuals published last year identified three options for the future - to leave the current situation as it is, to issue birth certificates showing the new name and possibly gender, or to grant full legal recognition of the new gender.

Ms Thoday said: "We are not issuing threats, we just want to politely ask what the timetable is for consideration of the report. It took eight years of campaigning by transsexuals and a lot of work went into it. We are willing to help the Government in the process. The report cannot be left to gather dust."

She said it was important people realised that transsexuality, also known as Gender Identity Disorder, was due to hormones and began in the womb.

Ms Thoday said: "From my earliest awareness, I felt like a female. As I got older, I felt anxious and thought I was going mad. I felt like I was in the wrong body."

Ms Thoday was recently given an out-of-court settlement after being asked to leave her job as a teacher by the head of Telscombe Cliffs Community Primary School because of her gender change.

She said: "I never go into a school and announce to children that I am a transsexual. That would be totally unacceptable professionally. But if a child asks or makes rude comments then I would rather answer any questions they may have in a responsible manner."

Ms Thoday said she was willing to answer any questions parents may have if they wanted to call a public meeting.

Anyone who would like to call a public meeting or would like more information on transsexuality can contact The Gender Trust on 07000 790347 or email Ms Thoday on natasha@redesignz.com