England's High Court has ruled that if a man who was assigned female at birth bears a child, he should be legally regarded as ‘mother’.
‘Seahorse dad’ Freddy McConnell, a British transgender man, wanted to be recognised as the father of his son on the official birth certificate but was told he would have to be registered as the ‘mother’. Unsatisfied with the law, he challenged it in the High Court.
A ‘seahorse dad’ is someone who was assigned female at birth, but identifies as male when they themselves come to give birth. The term was coined because male seahorses give birth to offspring.
Andrew McFarlane, President of the High Court's Family Division, set a precedent this week, telling the court that even though McConnell “properly and bravely” raised the issue with the courts, he would still be labelled as his child’s ‘mother’ on the child’s birth certificate.
"Whilst that person’s gender is ‘male’, their parental status, which derives from their biological role in giving birth, is that of ‘mother’.”
What’s it like for dads giving birth in Australia?
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, at least 205 fathers gave birth in Australia between July 2013 and June 2018.
Spencer Dezart Smith gave birth to his baby recently in Sydney.
“This really makes me angry,” Mr Dezart Smith posted to his Facebook account yesterday in reference to the UK case.
“Freddy is the father to his child. He is legally recognised as male and was [male] when he gave birth.”
“In the UK, they are forcing a gendered term on someone who does not socially or legally identify with this gender. Horrible.”
The Feed spoke to the proud Dad about his experience navigating hospitals, and birth certificates in Australia during his pregnancy.
“It wasn't difficult, but there were weirdly arbitrary conditions,” Mr Dezart Smith said.
For example, two women can be registered as Mother and Mother but two males cannot be registered as Father and Father but rather Parent and Parent.
We opted to go with Parent and Parent. But what I find strange is that a non-birth parent can be listed as Mother while a birth parent can't be listed as Father,” said Mr Dezart Smith.
Only in Sweden, some Canadian provinces and some US states can a child-bearing father be listed on the birth certificate.
Spencer has a birth certificate that says ‘female’, but on Medicare and his passport he is listed as male.
“Having to explain those conflicting documents when I look and sound 100% male to random people is very intense. And unnecessary,” he said.
Overall, Spencer says his experience was a positive one. For transgender or gender non-conforming people entering hospitals, “it is important to prepare for the worst” he said, but Spencer told The Feed that he was lucky enough to have a doctor at the hospital opt to take care of their case along with a midwife.
“That meant that I was kind of protected throughout the journey,” Mr Dezart Smith said.
“I did have a moment though, where I had my pregnancy questioned by medical professionals in front of numerous people in a waiting room because the way I looked didn't conform to what pregnant people are meant to look like.”
This moment was followed up by Mr Dezart Smith’s immediate care team and was then used as a moment to educate medical teams on how to handle transgender folks with more care and respect.
“A lot of the issues stem for the rigidity of [administrative] systems,” said Mr Dezart Smith. “[For example] the computer systems used can't handle someone with the gender of male undergoing procedures for people with 'female' anatomy”.
“I think having the option here to be listed as Parent and Parent is great and I am appreciative but if we had the option of Father and Father I would have taken it,” he said.
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