Transsexual `would not change' daughters' status

A transsexual who fathered two children before having a sex change operation told the High Court yesterday she had no desire …

A transsexual who fathered two children before having a sex change operation told the High Court yesterday she had no desire to change the status of her daughters' birth certificates to reflect that their father was really a woman.

But Ms Lydia Annice Foy (54), a dentist, of Athy, Co Kildare, who is seeking a court order to compel the Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths to alter her birth certificate to reflect her female identity, said she would like to think that her two daughters might in due course wish to change their birth certificates "to reflect reality".

Ms Foy, who is recorded on her birth certificate as being male, married in 1977 and had two daughters. The marriage ended in the early 1990s, she had sex change surgery in 1992 and changed her name by deed poll from Donal Mark to Lydia Annice in 1993. She has a driving licence and a passport in her new name.

Yesterday, Mr Diarmaid McGuinness SC, for the registrar, said the State had gone as far as was practicable in allowing Ms Foy to assert her identify.

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Counsel suggested Ms Foy had not been asked to produce her birth certificate for any purpose. Ms Foy replied that she had been frequently asked to produce this document but had offered other alternatives means of identification. Although the National University of Ireland had certified that she was permitted to practise dentistry under the name Lydia Foy, she was nevertheless dismissed from her job, with no explanation given. She was never reinstated or given a reference.

The proceedings continued in camera yesterday afternoon before adjourning until Tuesday next.