Revealed: Man born a woman in fight to be named a father
A TRANSGENDER man is fighting a legal battle to be described as ‘father’ on his child’s birth certificate.
Freddy McConnell legally transitioned from a woman to a man before he gave birth in 2018.
If he is successful, his child will be the first infant born in England and Wales who does not legally have a mother.
A reporting restriction barring journalists from naming Mr McConnell as the sole parent in the case was yesterday lifted by Sir Andrew McFarlane, president of the Family Division of the High Court.
Mr McConnell, a journalist who works for The Guardian, is also waiting for Sir Andrew to rule on
‘First child without a legal mother’
whether he can be the first person to have given birth to be registered as a father.
Other transgender men have given birth but have only been registered as mothers.
The 32-year-old had spent several years living as a man.
He took testosterone from the age of 25 and underwent surgery to reshape his chest. The journalist temporarily stopped the testosterone treatment when trying to get pregnant.
Before attending a fertility clinic, Mr McConnell applied for a gender recognition certificate – which was granted before the birth and means he was legally male when the child was born.
However, when Mr McConnell registered the birth, he was informed he could only be described on the birth certificate as the child’s mother.
Another judge made an order at a preliminary hearing last year preventing Mr McConnell and the child being named in media reports of the case.
However, a number of national newspaper editors mounted a challenge to the order after Mr McConnell featured in a documentary and Guardian article about his experiences and his journey to parenthood. Editors said journalists should, as a result of that ‘selfgenerated publicity’, also be allowed to name Mr McConnell in reports of the litigation.
it was not argued in court that the child should be named in any media reports of the case.
Mr McConnell fought against the ban being lifted, but Sir Andrew ruled in favour of editors.
Responding to the ruling, Mr McConnell said now that his anonymity has been lifted he will use the opportunity to draw attention to the ‘ need for equality in this area of the law’.
‘All children should be able to have their legal parents correctly and accurately recorded on their birth certificates,’ he told The Guardian.
Mr McConnell was born a female, and realised he was transgender in 2010 at the age of 23, beginning testosterone treatment three years later.
He became pregnant in 2017 through artificial insemination using a sperm donor.