Teenager allowed to become a girl
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday March 6, 2010
THE Family Court has permitted a teenage boy to have hormone treatment to become a girl."Bernadette" was born a boy in 1992 but began showing signs of female "behaviour, preferences and traits" from the age of three.A judge in NSW gave Bernadette, who was supported by her parents, permission to have hormone treatment that would suppress the onset of puberty and - at a later stage - administer oestrogen.The order was made in late 2007, when Bernadette was about 14, but the reasons were not published on the Family Court's website until this week. The order said she could commence treatment in January 2008.A psychiatrist believed she met the criteria for gender identity disorder. She said if the teenager did not receive the treatment there was the possibility she could harm herself.The judge accepted that a person's sexual identity was determined by their "brain sex", not their genitalia or other aspects of their physical appearance."Simply put, Bernadette although born a male believes herself to be female and has affirmed her female sex," the judge said."She has lived as a female since 2004."The former Family Court chief justice Alastair Nicholson, who a few years ago heard the case of "Alex", a teenage girl who wanted to be a boy, said there appeared to be more of these sorts of cases."They're difficult cases. You're faced with a real dilemma because you have a young person and you're worried they might embark on something they might later regret," he said."On the other hand you also have the possibilities of suicide, which are often real in these cases."In a separate judgment published this week, the Family Court gave approval for an 11-year-old Queensland girl to have a hysterectomy to help treat the symptoms of the debilitating medical condition, Rett syndrome."'Angela' behaved as a three-month-old baby and needed constant care," the judgment said."While her epilepsy was controlled by medication, seizures could occur when she had a heavy menstrual period."A doctor told the family a hysterectomy would solve many of those problems."
© 2010 Sydney Morning Herald
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