Children as young as ten changing sex by deed poll
CHILDREN as young as 10 are having their gender switched by deed poll, according to a website.
The UK Deed Poll Service is being asked to register a gender switch every day, it says.
Parents have been paying the agency £35 to alter their child’s title from “Miss to Master” or “Master to Miss” in increasing numbers over the past five years.
The trend is the latest indication that record numbers of children are identifying as members of the opposite sex. Louise Bowers, from the UK Deed Poll Service, said the gender changes are often accompanied by a change in the child’s birth name to one of the opposite sex.
She said: “We used to issue a couple of these deed polls every couple of months.
“But now it’s seven to 10 a week. The majority are teenagers – 14 or 15 – but they do go right down to the age of 10.” She added that while some children simply tweaked their names – such as from Joe to Jo – others took on a new name.
She said: “There are more Misses to Masters than Masters to Misses.”
Parental approval is needed to change the name of a child if they are under 16.
However, parents can, for a fee, replace words such as “son”, “daughter”, “he” and “she” at birth so the deed poll will not reveal the child’s gender. In the 12 months to April last year, more than twice as many biologically female children as male children were referred to the gender identity development service at Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, north London.
Last week, it emerged that male patients are routinely allowed to share female-only hospital wards if they identify as women.
NHS trusts in England were prepared to treat patients as their preferred sex.
Department of Health officials said both sexes could share sleeping or toilet and bathroom facilities if it was “in the overall best interests of the patient”.
Meanwhile, Bristol University said yesterday it has dropped students’ initials in email addresses in order not to be “problematic” for transgender people who change their name.