Kobe, Japan
— In a rare move, a 7-year-old boy diagnosed as
suffering a gender identity disorder has been enrolled in
a public elementary school as a girl, the local board of
education said Thursday.
The public elementary
school situated in Hyogo Prefecture admitted the child as
a girl in April last year at the request of the child's
parents.
It is extremely rare that
a lower-grade elementary school child has been officially
recognized as a patient with gender identity disorder
even though a special law enacted in 2004 allows adults
with such a disorder to change their gender in their
family registries.
"We'd like to be fully
prepared to respond if the child wants to return to his
physical gender in the future," an official of the
education board said.
The child has apparently
felt a strong identification with the opposite sex since
his infancy, preferring to wear skirts and play with
stuffed toy animals, according to the board of education.
The child resisted when his parents attempted to persuade
him to join a children's baseball club of which his elder
brother is a member, and was unable to eat for several
days.
When the child's mother
consulted a local hospital, a doctor in charge advised
her to let the child do whatever he liked to do
regardless of his gender. The child was happy after he
was allowed to be dressed as a girl when attending a
nursery school and when he wears a bikini in a swimming
pool.
To be enrolled in the
elementary school as a girl, the child underwent an
examination at an Osaka hospital where an expert
officially diagnosed him as suffering a gender identity
disorder.
The parents then
submitted a medical certificate recognizing the child as
a patient with a gender identity disorder to the school.
After the school and board met with the child's parents,
the child was enrolled in the school as a
girl.
The child uses restrooms
for girls and undergoes medical checkups with girls, but
has not caused any particular trouble.
(Mainichi)
