A transsexual who has undergone extensive "gender reassignment" surgery to change from male to female has asked the High Court to direct the alteration of her birth certificate to record her sex as female.
Lydia Annice Foy claims she is, and always was, female, although she was born with external male genitalia.
The case by Ms Foy (53), a dentist of Athy, Co Kildare, is the first of its kind in Irish courts and arises because her birth is recorded on the register as that of Donal Mark Foy, born in June 1947, and the sex is described as male. The court heard that, as Donal Foy, she married in 1977 and has two daughters. The marriage ended in the early 1990s and she has no contact with her wife and daughters. She changed her name to Lydia Annice Foy by deed poll in 1993 and holds a driving licence, medical card, polling card and UK and Irish passports in that name. But her birth certificate still records she is a male and she has taken proceedings against the Chief Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths and the State to alter that.
The applicant's wife and daughters are notice parties to the action but only the daughters are legally represented, the wife failing to qualify for legal aid.
Ms Mary O'Toole SC, for the daughters, said they had concerns about the implications of the action for their parents' marriage.
Opening the case yesterday, Mr Bill Shipsey SC, for Ms Foy, said his client was not seeking to change the birth registration of her daughters or to affect their succession rights in any way. His client was born with a congenital disability known as congenital gender disability and the case was about his client's right to her true identity and to have it recognised and respected by the State.
It was conceded that, at birth, the applicant had the external genitalia of a male and so was registered as a male. The determination of gender on the basis of external genitalia was a practice dating back two centuries. Our understanding of how the human body was made up was now much more comprehensive.
While the traditional view was that sexual differentiation was complete at the formation of external genitalia, the court would hear from experts this did not determine sex differentiation, that the brain was also differentiated into male and female and this largely correlated with future sexual and non-sexual behaviour.
There was now a body of scientific evidence which supported a finding that there was a neurobiological basis for the sexual brain differentiation which occurs in humans, counsel said.
In his client's case, her brain was at birth, and now, female. From as early as she could remember she considered herself female, regarded herself as female and in her dreams and aspirations were female. She had to endure great distress in her life as a result and had tried to live with her family and society's expectations of her as a man. It was estimated the disability from which she suffered affected one in 12-15,000 persons born with external male genitalia and one in 50-60,000 persons born with external female genitalia.
Significantly, Mr Shipsey said, the cost of the gender reassignment surgery undertaken by Ms Foy was underwritten by the Eastern Health Board which, he said, was a recognition of her congenital disability. The board had paid £5,000 towards the cost. While Ms Foy had changed her name by deed poll, she was still required to produce a birth certificate for a number of professional, official and social purposes, or to give the name on the birth certificate. Consequently, for a number of purposes, she was still considered a male.
The hearing continues.
