Family Court,
Australia — THE Family Court
<http://www.familycourt.gov.au/>
has delivered a unique judgment allowing a 13-year-old
girl who wants to be a boy to begin a sex-change process
and amend the child's birth certificate.
The landmark decision by
outgoing Chief Justice Alistair Nicholson is the first
time an Australian child who is biologically one sex has
been given legal approval to begin to change to the other
through hormone treatment because of purely psychiatric
issues. <http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/family_ct/2004/297.html>
The three-step process
means the child, who can only be known as "Alex", will
begin reversible hormone treatment, supplemented by
treatment with some permanent effects when she is
16.
She will receive
extensive psychiatric care and cannot have surgery until
she is 18.
Alex, whose home state
and country of birth cannot be identified, is a migrant
who was brought up as a boy by her now-deceased father
and was rejected by her mother.
Justice Nicholson,
referring to the child as "he", said: "(His father's
death) was clearly devastating. He had spent almost all
of his waking and sleeping time with his
father."
He added there was no
sign of sexual abuse.
Alex is treated as a boy
and uses men's toilets.
"He didn't like dolls. He
liked playing with tanks and a sword. He had few female
friends," his mother told a psychologist.
A psychiatrist told the
court that if Alex's treatment was delayed and "(he) had
to go to high school with the presence of periods and
increasingly feminised body, he (would) be extremely
distressed".
The legal action was
initiated by a state welfare department on Alex's
behalf.
Alex lives with her aunt,
who, despite some reservations, now treats him as a
boy.
Her school principal
became very concerned at her distress, self-harm and
constant talk of suicide because her gender identity did
not match her body.
Justice Nicholson
received submissions from the principal, psychiatrists,
case workers and specialists in children's gender
identity.
He also allowed the Human
Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to
intervene.
"I am satisfied that Alex
has the capacity and, indeed, does in fact know the side
effects that may arise and further, that he wishes the
proposed treatment with knowledge of such risks," Justice
Nicholson said.
"The social implications
of the proposed treatment are that Alex will face
challenges in his chosen identity in respect of peer
relationships, possible bullying and ostracism, but I am
satisfied that impressive steps have been taken to
anticipate such risks."
He said he was "anxious
about the detrimental consequences" Alex might suffer
from showing a birth certificate that was "antithetical
to his self-image".
Justice Nicholson said it
seemed "cruel and unnecessary" to require a sex-change
surgery before a birth certificate could be
amended.
"I would urge the various
state and territory legislatures that make surgery a
prerequisite for a change in birth certificates to
reconsider their position."
