Child of transgender man can become first British boy without official mother

The court in London is currently considering a “remarkable and unseen case”. A single transgender man – who gave birth to a boy last year – is fighting for the right to be recognized as the father of the child. The birth certificate says that he is the mother, but that is what the man wants to change. If this succeeds, then the boy becomes the first child without a legal mother in Great Britain, according to what British media write.

The transgender man – who only underwent surgery to change his upper body – desperately wanted a child and became pregnant through an intra-uterine insemination in which the seed of a donor was placed in the womb. More than a year ago, before the birth of his first child, the Brit received the certificate that he would now officially go through life as a man. When he received the birth certificate after delivery, he read ‘mother’ on the official document.

The man now wants to be legally regarded as a father, but according to the law the person who has given birth to the child must be registered as a mother. “This is an infringement against human rights. It must be possible to adjust this in view of the changes that have taken place in our society in recent years,” the man’s petition read.

“It is, however, an accepted fact that a man who has become a woman can legally retain her ability to conceive and give birth”, said Hannah Markham, head of the man’s lawyers team, in court.

The case puts the official distinction between mother and father on the slant, according to judge Justice Francis who will decide whether the birth certificate should be adjusted. According to him, it is the first time that such an issue appears before a court in Great Britain. “If the man wins, the law may have to be changed,” it sounds.

Source: The Independent, Daily Mail, The Telegraph