出産したトランスジェンダー男性、法的地位は「母親」　英裁判所

【ロンドンＡＦＰ＝時事】トランスジェンダー（性別越境者）の英男性が子どもを出産した後、出生証明書に「母親」と記載されることを拒んで起こした訴訟で、英高等法院は25日、「父親」または「親」の表記を希望する男性の要求を退ける判断を下した。（写真はフレディ・マコネルさん）
　英紙ガーディアンでマルチメディア専門記者として働くフレディ・マコネルさん（３２）は、女性として生まれたが、数年前から男性として暮らしている。２０１３年にホルモン治療を始め、乳房切除手術も受けたが、妊娠・出産は可能な状態で、治療を中断して１７年に妊娠。翌１８年に出産したのを機に、正式に男性となる法的手続きを取った。
　しかし、高等法院家庭部のアンドルー・マクファーレン判事は、「個人のジェンダー（社会的性別）と、保護者としての法的地位には、大きな違いがある」として、我が子の出生証明書に「父親」か「親」と記載されることを望むマコネルさんの要求を却下した。
　マクファーレン判事は「従来、『母親』であることは常に女性であることと直結していた。だが、『母親』という立場は、身体的・生物学的な妊娠・出産のプロセスを経た人物に与えられるものだ」と説明。「現在、法律上は男性となっている個人が妊娠・出産することは、医学的にも法的にも可能」であり、「その人物のジェンダーが『男性』であっても、親としての法的立場は、子どもを産むという生物学的な役割に基づき『母親』となる」との判断を示した。
　弁護団によると、マコネルさんが勝訴していれば、子どもはイングランドとウェールズで初めて法的な母親のいない事例となっていた。
　マコネルさんは、「これが現状を維持するための判決なら、私のように子どもを産んだり、これから産みたいと思っていたりするトランスジェンダーの人々にいったいどんな意味を持つか、本当に心配だ」とコメント。上訴するかどうか検討しているという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/09/27-09:28）

A transgender man who gave birth but did not want to be registered as the child's mother on the birth certificate lost a legal battle at England's High Court on Wednesday.
Freddy McConnell, 32, was born as a woman but has lived as a man for several years.
He was biologically able to get pregnant and give birth -- and had legally become a man when the child was born in 2018.
McConnell wanted to be registered as the child's father or parent.
But Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division of the High Court, ruled against him.
There is a material difference between a person's gender and their status as a parent, the judge said in his ruling.
Being a 'mother', whilst hitherto always associated with being female, is the status afforded to a person who undergoes the physical and biological process of carrying a pregnancy and giving birth.
It is now medically and legally possible for an individual, whose gender is recognised in law as male, to become pregnant and give birth to their child.
Whilst that person's gender is 'male', their parental status, which derives from their biological role in giving birth, is that of 'mother'.
Lawyers say the child would have been the first person born in England and Wales legally not to have a mother, had McConnell won.
McConnell's story was told in the documentary Seahorse -- a reference to the fish that reproduce through male pregnancies.
- 'It's just not fair' -
McConnell is considering whether to appeal against the court's decision.
If it is upholding the status quo then I am really worried about what this means not just for me but other trans people who are parents or who want to become parents, he said according to The Guardian newspaper, where he works as a multimedia journalist.
It has serious implications for non-traditional family structures. It upholds the view that only the most traditional forms of family are properly recognised or treated equally. It's just not fair.
McConnell began testosterone treatment in 2013 and underwent chest reshaping surgery. He retained his female reproductive system.
In 2016 he suspended his hormone treatment after seeking fertility advice and became pregnant in 2017 using a sperm donor.
McConnell's lawyer Karen Holden said after the ruling: In the UK he has the right to change his gender on his own birth certificate so why not (on) his child's?
Surely if you are going to move with modern times the law has to finish the journey it has started.