For the first time in France, the Toulouse Court of Appeal has recognized a transgender woman as the mother of her child.
This is a first in France! A transgender woman has been recognized as the mother of her child after 8 years of legal battle. She had conceived her baby before changing sex, but after her change of identity at the civil status. “There are few words to describe this relief. It took strength and courage for my client not to give in to the solutions that were offered to her, in particular the adoption“rejoiced the client’s lawyer. The Toulouse Court of Appeal has indeed granted his request as well as to his wife. “The court has rendered a judgment which consecrates a major step forward for the fundamental rights of transgender people. Finally, this child sees his parentage recognized and will be able to bear the same name as the rest of his family. And my client is recognized as her mother” added the lawyer during a press conference. In addition, the public prosecutor, who had demanded last December the registration of the change of sex in the civil status on the birth certificate of the child, was dismissed. The Toulouse Court of Appeal considers that the child “will be able to have access to his biological origins through his mother’s birth certificate, that he will be free to ask at any time”, and that “Such a statement would disproportionately affect the rights to privacy” of the child and his mother.
Four parents obtain parental authority
On January 7, two couples (composed of two men and two women) obtained parental authority over their two children. This is also a first in France in terms of court decision, already revealed in February the magazine Stubborn. For the judge, the “four-way parenting project” was “thought out and developed before birth” children. The couples, friends, decided to conceive their children together. But the other two parents, non-biological, could not until then exercise their parental authority over the children they are raising together. With this court decision, they can now educate them, protect them and make decisions, especially in case of need for their health, outings, etc. “It is a recognition of the reality of this family configuration, which the law no longer ignores“, declared Maître Caroline Mécary, lawyer specializing in family rights in charge of the case.
Finally, as the magazine reminds us, this court decision does not allow non-biological parents to obtain recognition of filiation: they will not be able, in fact, to transmit their surname to their children. It is therefore a shared parental authority, which is valid until their majority.