3 UAE women want to become men, court turns down appeal

The Federal Appeal Court has turned down the request of three young Emirati women - who want to become men - to change their gender and have their female names changed in the government national registry.

The women, all aged below 25, had filed a lawsuit seeking permission to be allowed to become men after reportedly undergoing sex-change operations abroad.

The women had presented to the court several documents and medical reports from European hospitals that recommended the sex-change operations.

Their lawyer, Ali Abdullah Al Mansouri, earlier said that the Emirati women had undergone sex-change operations in a European country after suffering from congenital defects and having masculine features including too much hair on their legs, manly voices and other characteristics "that distinguished them from women".

He noted that his clients had received "many medical reports" that recommended the sex-change operations. They now want legal permission to have their gender and names changed in government records, he pointed out.

Al Mansouri had argued in the appeal court that the local medical committee appointed by the first court to examine the condition of his clients and issue a medical report on their eligibility for sex change acknowledged in their report that the women had sex disorders which cannot be reversed, but failed to recommend them for sex change.

"The report by the medical committee was brief and didn't look extensively into the fact that the young women had suffered from this gender disorder since childhood," said the lawyer.

Al Mansouri said the women have felt as if they were males at an early stage and want permission to become so and that denying them this would affect them psychologically which would lead to depression.

"They feel that they are men trapped in female bodies and they want to overcome this by getting court permission for sex change," said the lawyer.

The Federal First instance Court had earlier rejected the request of the women and refused permission for sex-change. But the women challenged the ruling in the Federal Appeal Court which has upheld the first ruling.

Al Mansouri said that his clients would challenge the ruling at the Federal Supreme Court.

• Abu Dhabi

Ismail Sebugwaawo

ismail@khaleejtimes.com