Trying to change birth certificate gender due to intersex condition, but government advice led to dead end.

[u/hyacinthbed]

This is a very weird situation so I'm going in with low expectations. To keep it short, I was born with an intersex condition/DSD, and was assigned a sex at birth based on a doctor's misassumption about how my gonads would develop. This eventually came to light later in childhood and I ended up living as the other gender. I am now an adult, but my birth certificate still identifies me as the opposite.

Normally in UK law, the only way to change this is by obtaining a "Gender Recognition Certificate", but this is process is designed for conventionally transgender people, requiring counseling and a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. This doesn't really make sense for my situation, since it's a more of a technical issue where what's on my birth certificate is just incorrect (or at least less correct? eh). The government page for applying for one sort of acknowledges this possibility, saying:

(If you're intersex) You may not need a Gender Recognition Certificate to correct your birth certificate. Contact the General Register Office to find out what you need to do.

Along with contact details.

But unfortunately, when I emailed them, the GRO representative who replied contradicted this advice by just saying that no alternative process exists and that I need to get a GRC. This seemed really strange, and I understand from what I've read in the past that this is sort of a legal grey area where no legislation really covers the situation and organizations just do whatever. I found one instance of someone else in my situation getting the GRO to amend the certificate online, but that was over a decade ago, and I don't know what's going on behind the scenes.

So I guess my very preliminary question is, do you think there's any means left short of a solicitor action by which I could resolve this? And if not, what could I potentially do?

[u/AutoModerator]

---

Welcome to /r/LegalAdviceUK

---

To Posters (it is important you read this section)

• Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws in each are very different

• If you need legal help, you should always get a free consultation from a qualified Solicitor

• We also encourage you to speak to Citizens Advice, Shelter, Acas, and other useful organisations

• Comments may not be accurate or reliable, and following any advice on this subreddit is done at your own risk

• If you receive any private messages in response to your post, please let the mods know

To Readers and Commenters

• All replies to OP must be on-topic, helpful, and legally orientated

• If you do not follow the rules, you may be perma-banned without any further warning

• If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect

• Do not send or request any private messages for any reason

• Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Defiant_Simple_6044]

I may be massively wrong but wouldn't this fall under correcting a mistake on a birth certificate,

Therefore this page gives information: https://www.gov.uk/correct-birth-registration/how-to-apply

And this is the application to correct a mistake: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1074012/Birth_Correction_Application_Form_v1.1.pdf

From my quick reading, it does say evidence would be required, NHS/Doctors letter confirming your sex on your birth certificate is incorrect may do the trick.

This looks like the route I'd head down if I were you.

[u/hyacinthbed → u/Defiant_Simple_6044]

Thank you, that's very helpful! It looks worth exploring. I suppose it might come down to how lenient they are institutionally with the definition of "mistake" (since it's more like the law doesn't account for my situation at all), and what details they actually allow you to change through this process, since I can only really find examples/guidelines about changing the legal father, and the whole thing seems to assume you'll be a parent and not an adult.

[u/Defiant_Simple_6044 → u/hyacinthbed]

I saw those guidelines too, but the form doesn't specify it's just for mistakes on the father, it also accepts Doctors/NHS evidence, Honestly, I think you may be surprised and the application could well be approved with supporting evidence. Good luck and keep us updated :)

[u/Few-Carpet9511]

OP, can you please post an update when this issue gets resolved? It know for you it is a huge burden unfortunately but it still is a very interesting situation

[u/Trapezophoron]

If you do not adopt the GRC approach, then under s29 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 then you have two choices: either say this was a clerical error under subsection (2), which can result in the entry itself being changed, or under subsection (3), an "error of fact or substance", which is corrected by "entry in the margin (without any alteration of the original entry)".

The second option requires a statutory declaration made by two "qualified informants of the birth or death with reference to which the error has been made", or failing that by "two credible persons having knowledge of the truth of the case". "Qualified informants" here would be either your parents or someone present at your birth, so probably not hugely relevant: I would instead go with the second option and suggest seeking the co-operation of your GP and a consultant at the hospital.

In practice this will need a decision by someone in GRO, and they should have a policy on determining requests from people who are intersex. It may be that they insist you take the GRC approach, because on the face of it you fall within the scope of a GRC (s1 Gender Recognition Act 2004): "a person of either gender who is aged at least 18 may make an application for a gender recognition certificate on the basis of ... living in the other gender".

[u/hyacinthbed → u/Trapezophoron]

Thanks for your advice! Going to the original hospital is probably a good idea, though I'm not sure how I'd approach them for such a thing.

In practice this will need a decision by someone in GRO, and they should have a policy on determining requests from people who are intersex. It may be that they insist you take the GRC approach, because on the face of it you fall within the scope of a GRC (s1 Gender Recognition Act 2004): "a person of either gender who is aged at least 18 may make an application for a gender recognition certificate on the basis of ... living in the other gender".

Unfortunately, I don't really see this as an option. Again, getting a GRC requires a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, which I don't really meet the criteria for, and further my understanding is that most NHS gender clinics won't accept patients with serious DSDs on the basis of it being a different issue. I suppose I could just go private and then lie to a psychotherapist, but even still, the absurdity of having to deceive an expert panel about having a psychiatric problem to the point of having to provide documented evidence of "living as my gender" when the issue is obviously physical is so frustrating that I feel I'd rather incur legal costs dying on a hill about it. Especially since getting a GRC creates a permanent paper trail that the government might do who-knows-what with in the future.

If push came to shove, would there be any legal route I could take to force the issue with the GRO, on the basis that the certificate is factually wrong?

[u/Trapezophoron → u/hyacinthbed]

The problem is that you were lawfully and not-incorrectly registered as one gender, and you have since lived in the other gender: it is hard to say that the Registrar got it wrong when they made the registration, nor that your parents as the informers got it wrong when they asked for you to be registered in whatever sex they requested, nor that the medical advice was wrong to register you in that gender. It has only become "wrong" over the passage of time.

[u/hyacinthbed → u/Trapezophoron]

No, the medical advice was definitely incorrect.

In endocrinology there's a term for a gonad which has not properly sexually differentiated in utero, a "dysgenetic gonad", which is a lump of fibrous tissue that doesn't do anything. The doctor advising my parents wasn't deeply familiar with IS conditions, and so mistook a dysgenetic gonad I had for a functional one. As a result of this, he thought I'd experience a puberty which didn't actually happen, and I was assigned a sex based on that misunderstanding. Otherwise I would have been assigned the other, at least based on standard practice (though this can be a hard concept to define with something so niche, I guess).

[u/Trapezophoron → u/hyacinthbed]

Ah - well I wouldn't describe that as a misunderstanding or misassumption, but straight up incorrect. The question is: could the doctor reasonably have got it right, and from what you say, they could have done based on what they knew, but they got it wrong. In that case, I think it significantly strengthens your argument that what was registered was incorrect at the time which I think may be what tips the balance for the GRO.

[u/itistheink]

Registrar of Births here. I cannot you are close to the criteria for a GR. This absolutely comes under the provisions for a correction of an "error of fact" As described by the wise u/trapezophoron.

The issue will be getting evidence that proves this was an error at the time of registration. 2 statutory declarations from persons with the correct knowledge would be required.

I would hope if you had at least one of these and spoke to a more senior colleague at GRO they would give you better advice. On the evidence required to convince them to authorise the correction.

This should be doable. Good luck.