Girl can begin life as a boy

2004-04-14 08:43

Canberra - Australia's Family Court has allowed a 13-year-old girl to undergo hormone treatment that will make her a boy.

The ruling, made public on Tuesday, is the first time an Australian child has been given legal approval to undergo sex-change hormone treatment because of psychiatric issues.

The girl, who under Family Court rules can only be known as "Alex," will also receive psychiatric care and have surgery when she turns 18 and is legally regarded as an adult.

Alex regards herself as being male after being brought up as a boy by her now-dead father and being rejected by her mother.

She has already begun treatment with the hormones oestrogen and progestogen to prevent menstruation and feminisation of her body. The court made an interim order for that treatment to commence earlier this year.

Tuesday's decision means Alex will begin treatment with the male hormone testosterone once she turns 16. It will have irreversible effects - including her voice deepening, facial and body hair, as well as muscle development.

Family Court Chief Justice Alastair Nicholson referred to Alex as "he" when making his judgement.

"I am satisfied that Alex has the capacity and, indeed, does in fact know the side effects that may arise and further, that he wishes the proposed treatment with knowledge of such risks," Nicholson said.

Will face challenges

"The social implications of the proposed treatment are that Alex will face challenges in his chosen identity in respect of peer relationships, possible bullying and ostracism, but I'm satisfied that impressive steps have been taken to anticipate such risks."

Alex - whose condition doctors call gender identity dysphoria - beats boys at arm wrestling, and is attracted to girls, the court heard.

She has no male chromosomes and has hormone levels typical of a teenage girl as well as female reproductive organs. But she lives with an aunt who treats her like a boy.

The court's permission was necessary because sex change treatment is regarded as a special medical procedure to which neither a child, parent nor guardian can give consent.

The state welfare department, which is Alex's legal guardian, made the court application on her behalf, and will pay for the sex-change treatment until Alex becomes an adult.

Prominent Australian ethicist Nicholas Tonti-Filipini condemned the decision.

Just irresponsible

"This medical treatment, (is) completely unproven, even in adults," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio. "To do it to a 13-year-old who is still in formation, whose body is still forming, whose sense of identity is still forming, it's just irresponsible."

He called for a higher court to intervene.

But Louise Newman, chair of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Faculty of Children and Adolescent Psychiatry, disagreed, saying that in this case it would be overly stressful for the teen-ager to undergo female puberty.

- AP