Claire will not need to go through adoption, as a civil registrar suggested to her, to appear as a mother on the birth certificate of her biological daughter. After a long journey in the courtrooms, the Toulouse Court of Appeal has just recognized the right to this mention for this 52-year-old transgender woman who until then was the victim of a vacuum – a paradox even – in the legal system.
Her 8-year-old daughter is the third and last child she had with his wife. But during the first two births she was a man, while during that of their youngest daughter, conceived according to the judgment “with her male reproductive system”, she had already begun her transition and in particular obtained her change of marital status. So that on the birth certificate of the little girl, only the wife of Claire, who accompanied her transition, was so far mentioned. But things will go back to normal for the couple. “The Toulouse Court of Appeal authorizes the mention on the birth certificate of the child, of the husband who has become a woman as a mother”, explains the judgment, specifying that the magistrates “considered that two maternal filiations could the species to be established”.
“A new horizon”
The court also ruled that it would be “not necessary” to include Claire’s sex change judgment on the birth certificate. A provision that the couple considered “discriminatory” and hoped to see discarded. “It’s a total victory in this battle, reacted this Wednesday morning Clélia Richard, the couple’s lawyer. It is not the only child concerned, it is a decision which opens a new horizon, which will relax many parents and future parents”. She is delighted that “the simplicity of the situation is finally finding resonance in the law”.
This decision could change the life of at least one other couple in the same situation as Claire and her wife.