Australian trans men win court appeal over surgery

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Two Australian trans men have won a court appeal allowing them to be legally recognised as men without having to have their female reproductive organs removed.

They had been denied certificates recognising their new gender by the West Australian Gender Reassignment Board.

They then appealed to the State Administrative Tribunal, which said that while the men still had vaginas, ovaries and uteruses and had not had penises constructed, they “presented as, and appeared to be, males”.

In its findings, the tribunal said: “Both applicants had undergone bilateral mastectomies and testosterone treatment as a result of which each had undergone extensive physical changes consistent with being male … the tribunal accepted the evidence of each applicant that he intended to continue testosterone treatment for the rest of his life.

“It accepted the medical evidence that each was, and would remain, infertile for as long as he continued testosterone treatment”.

It added that a female reproductive system was “a fundamental, although not essential, physical characteristic of being female” and that the Gender Reassignment Act did not require surgical procedures to be carried out.

One of the men told ABC News: “It means that it opens up lots of opportunities for lots of other people who until now have never tried to get their sex legally changed because they didn’t think they’d be able to.”

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