Men can be called ‘mothers’, says Government QC

THE word ‘mother’ is no longer a gender- specific term, Government lawyers told the High Court yesterday.

Ben Jaffey QC, acting for the Department of Health, made the claim during a court hearing as a female- to- male parent attempted to be registered as the father of his child, despite giving birth to the baby. Arguing against the claim, Mr Jaffey told the Family Division of the High Court in London that ‘being a mother is no longer necessarily a gendered term … a man can be and in this case is a mother’.

The single parent, referred to only as TT, was born a woman but now lives as a man after undergoing surgery. However, the court heard he was able to get pregnant and give birth to his child, known only as yy.

TT had legally become a man by the time the child was born. But a registrar told him the law requires the individual who gives birth to a child to be registered as ‘mother’.

He has now taken legal action, and says forcing him to register as the mother breaches his human right to respect for a private and family life.

If the legal bid is successful, the child would be the first to have no legally recognised mother. Mr Jaffey said that TT had ‘sincere and legitimate objectives’ but that if successful his case would rip up the current regime for registering births. Judgment was reserved for a later date.