Sex op woman's fight for identity
By GEOFFREY BEW
12.6.2006
Taken from Gulf Daily News
A BAHRAINI woman undergoing a sex change operation is going to court in a bid to legally recognise her new status as a man.
Lawyer Fowzia Mohammed Janahi, who is acting for the 30-year-old, says her client was born without all the female organs and in her mind believes she is a man.
The woman, whose identity is being protected, is suffering from a condition known as gender dysphoria where people identify with the opposite sex than the one they were born with.
She was born without a uterus and has already filed a case to be recognised as a man by the Health Ministry and General Directorate of Nationality, Passports and Residence.
A hearing is expected within the next few weeks and if she wins, she will be able to get a CPR card, driving licence and passport with a new male identity.
The woman, who is single, was previously engaged to be married, but the relationship ended when her partner noticed she was more like a man.
"We cannot change her passport without going to the court as nobody will change the name for her," Ms Janahi told the GDN.
"She cannot physically have children, all her hormones are male and she even has a voice like a man.
"She has undergone blood tests in Jordan and these show she is a male.
"At first her family did not agree, but now they support her decision.
"It is very difficult for her to sit with the girls because she thinks she is a man and she wants to be with them.
"She also feels difficult when she goes outside and wears the Abaya as people say: 'Why is a man wearing the black dress?'
"I took this kind of case on because I want to help these people. It is like any disease.
"Some of these people, if they are left alone, will kill themselves."
The lawyer, who is a member of the Bahrain Bar Society, won a landmark case of a similar nature last year when the Bahrain courts agreed to another Bahraini woman, aged 30, being legally recognised as a man.
She believes she has a strong case and has 11 reports from the Al Khalidi Medical Centre in Jordan and one each from the Al Nafees Hospital and Shifa Al Jazeera Medical Centre in Bahrain to support the sex change decision.
But she believes it may take up to 18 months to secure a positive verdict for her client.
Ms Janahi says the problems suffered by her client are more common than people realise.
"A lot of people called me and said we have the same case," she said.
"But they do not have money for all the tests and reports and the operations.
"People have to travel outside to Thailand or Europe for treatment.
"It is very difficult."
She told the GDN there is also great suspicion about sex change operations in Bahrain and the region as people believe it is anti-Islamic.
But she says the Quran permits the operation in the right circumstances.
"The case is very difficult in the Gulf," she said.
"In Kuwait there have been nine cases and all were rejected.
"They also have cases in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, but the law does not agree with it.
"Maybe outside (Bahrain) it is easier to change, but we are Muslim people.
"The family feels shame to change the sex, if they have a daughter they feel she should be a daughter and want her to stay that way.
"Bahrain is a very small country and everybody knows each other.
"It is very difficult for this kind of case, but we have a reason for this one and all the reports agree that there needs to be a change."
A General Directorate of Nationality, Passports and Residence spokesman said a change of name could only be authorised by judicial means.
"They need to make it through the court and without that we cannot do it," he said.
"These are the rules in Bahrain."
He added if the woman won her case there would not be a problem to implement the change.
A Health Ministry spokesman said he was unable to comment while legal proceedings were ongoing and would wait for the judgement before speaking about the case.
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