The Suva High Court has today dismissed an application of a 42-year-old man who had sought court orders for his birth certificate to be changed to state that he is now a female after undergoing a sex change.
The man was seeking a declaration that he is a female for all intents and purposes.
He also sought a court order for the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages to change his sex designation from Male to Female in his birth registration and birth certificate.
The High Court says that according to the man’s birth certificate, the sex of the man at birth is given as Male.
The man who is now a citizen of New Zealand had on 27th November 2006 and 4th December 2006, at the age of 33 years, undergone two male to female sex reassignment surgeries in Thailand.
The High Court says it is important to note that the information such as sex of a newly born child, provided for the registration of a birth is not based on assumptions but on hard facts which are certified by a qualified medical practitioner.
The court states that subsequent reassignment of sex is not an error in a birth certificate.
It also says the issue here is not discrimination against sexual orientation but whether the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages had the power and authority to grant the request.
The High Court says the courts cannot override the existing provisions of the statutes in the guise of exercising its inherent powers.
It also states that the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages had no power or authority to grant the request to the man.
The court also says it is clear that by a male to female transsexual surgery all what the doctors can do is to artificially create certain female organs in a male’s body but that person does not become a female for all intents and purposes.
