A 32-year-old transgender man has lost a legal battle at England’s High Court to be officially recognised as his child's father.
Freddy McConnell gave birth last year - a process which was recorded for the BBC documentary . The documentary's name is a nod to the fact that seahorses are one of the few species in which males become pregnant.
According to , McConnell decided to initiate legal action after discovering that he had been recorded as his child's mother on their birth certificate - despite being legally recognised as a man at the time of childbirth.
However, Andrew McFarlane, president of the High Court Family Division, ruled against McConnell's request to be recorded as 'father' or simply 'parent', claiming there is "a material difference between a person’s gender and their status as a parent."
The judge continued: “Being a ‘mother’ or a ‘father’ with respect to the conception, pregnancy and birth of a child is not necessarily gender specific.
“There is a material difference between a person’s gender and their status as a parent. 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’.”
McConnell told that he is "really worried" about the verdict's possible ramifications for members of the trans community.
“It has serious implications for non-traditional family structures," he said.
"It upholds the view that only the most traditional forms of family are properly recognised or treated equally. It’s just not fair.”
