'So this man wasn't the mother even though he gave birth?'

17 November 2020, 09:09 | Updated: 17 November 2020, 09:13

'So this man wasn't the mother even though he gave birth?'

By EJ Ward

'So this man wasn't the mother even though he gave birth?' - Nick Ferrari challenges a family law solicitor over a recent court case.

A transgender man who has given birth but does not want to be described as "mother" on his child's birth certificate has failed to persuade Supreme Court justices to consider his case.

Freddy McConnell wants to be registered as father or parent but he has already lost two rounds of a legal battle.

A judge ruled against him in 2019 after a High Court hearing and three Court of Appeal judges dismissed an appeal earlier this year.

LBC's Nick Ferrari spoke to Scott Halliday an Associate Family Law Solicitor at Irwin Mitchell.

Nick asked the solicitor what his view was after the Supreme Court said it would not hear the case.

Mr Halliday branded the decision by the highest court in the UK as "disappointing" but added it could be taken to the European Court of Human Rights.

The solicitor told LBC the decision would mean the child's rights were not being respected as the birth certificate was not recording "accurately in accordance with their lived reality."

But Nick pointed out that it was recorded in accordance with the law.

"Mr McConnell gave birth to the child," Nick asked, "as a mother?"

But the solicitor's response was "no, because Mr McConnell at the time of the birth had obtained a gender recognition certificate."

This led to Nick challenging him and pointing out the baby came from Mr McConnell's womb.

Setting out the legal background the solicitor said it was a "nuanced point."

"When Freddy McConnell gave birth," the lawyer said, "in law, he was male."

Nick asked if the situation might be confusing for the child in the case.

But the solicitor said the issue would be for the child looking at the birth certificate and not seeing their parenting accurately represented.

But then Mr Halliday said as far as he was concerned "there isn't a mother."

When Nick questioned it the solicitor set out the point that because the parent had obtained a gender recognition certificate he was legally a man.