Transsexual wins legal recognition as a man

A woman who underwent a sex change to become a man yesterday won the right to be recognised in his new gender by the public registry after a judge ordered that his birth certificate be altered.

The man, who cannot be named by court order, made the request last October, saying that ever since birth he had felt like a man, acted like one and had masculine inclinations.

The desire to physically become a man was realised after gender reassignment surgery in Belgrade, Serbia.

Mr Justice Joseph Azzopardi ordered the director of the public registry to change the birth certificate to match the man’s new physical identity. The judge also ordered that his name be changed too.

The man’s legal counsel was Owen Bonnici.

This latest judgment comes in the wake of a legal battle fought by a woman to be given the right to marry after undergoing male-to-female gender reassignment surgery. In court, Joanne Cassar’s lawyers had referred to a section of the law introduced a few years ago by which transsexuals could file a court application to have the details changed on their birth certificate.

The judge ruled that, since the government had introduced this section, at law the State was recognising her as a woman. Therefore, all the legal consequences followed so Ms Cassar had to be allowed to marry a man.

However, the director of public registry, against whom Ms Cassar took legal action, rejected the claim, insisting the law had been introduced only to protect the person’s privacy and not because the State was recognising her acquired sex.

Ms Cassar is currently awaiting judgment in the appeal launched by the registry and the Attorney General.