Men can be mothers, says Government
MOTHER is no longer a gender-specific term that applies only to women, lawyers on behalf of the Government have argued.
A barrister for the Department of Health made the remarks at a High Court hearing over whether a transgender man can be recognised as a “father” on his child’s birth certificate.
The man, who was born a woman and is identifiable only as TT for legal reasons, became pregnant after undergoing fertility treatment, despite being legally recognised as a man. He has taken the Registrar General and the Government to court after being told he had to be cited as the child’s mother, not father, on the birth certificate.
Government lawyers cited confidential documents written by civil servants which suggested TT could simply be known as a “male mother”.
Echoing those documents, Ben Jaffey QC told Sir Andrew Mcfarlane, the President of the Family Division, that “the status of a mother is no longer gender-specific ... Being a mother is no
longer necessarily a gendered term. A man can be – and, in this case of TT, is – a mother. He has chosen to give birth to and lovingly raise a child,” Mr Jaffey said.
His comments were supported by a Home Office source who told The Daily Telegraph that under the Gender Recognition Act, a woman who changed sex to become a man would still be regarded as the child’s mother.
“A change in gender does not affect a person’s status as the mother or father of a child,” the source said, while indicating that the Government would consider if any changes to legislation were needed once the verdict, which is expected from Sir Andrew in the coming weeks, has been handed down.
Mr Jaffey suggested the court should rule against TT’S claim because other transgender men who had given birth “happily” adopted the term mother.
“It is not an unusually held view in the transgender community to refer to a transgender man who has given birth ... as a mother. They recognise the complexity of the situation,” he said.
However, TT’S team of lawyers argued that forcing their client to be registered as the child’s “mother” would be “insensitive, dehumanising”. Hannah Markham QC said: “It could create a lack of dignity, misgendering and the continuation of gender dysphoria.”
Yesterday’s closing remarks came after Sir Andrew suggested that Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, should review current fertility legislation after TT was able to access a sperm donor while legally a man.
“The documents from the clinic say ‘man’. I am inviting the Government to consider whether the operation of the HFEA [Human Fertilisation and Embryology] Act needs to be looked at,” he told the court on Wednesday.
Concluding yesterday, Sir Andrew reiterated his invitation, saying “a significant amount of light had been shone on the issue” of whether transgender men were having fertility treatment within the UK’S legal framework. Mr Jaffey agreed, saying that more guidance for transgender parents who chose to undergo fertility treatments “would be very sensible”.