Post date: Sep 26, 2013 7:44:5 PM
A six-year-old child's gender identity is changed from male to female in Argentina.
BUENOS AIRES PROVINCE, ARGENTINA (CANAL 13) - A six-year-old Argentine child who was listed as a boy at birth has been granted new identification papers listing her as a girl, the gender her mother says the child chose as soon she first learned to speak.
The mother, Gabriela, said her child, named Manuel at birth, has insisted on being called Lulu since she was just four-years-old.The proud mother says her little girl wants to be a beautiful princess and she has promised to help her be just that.
Gabriela had petitioned the government of her home Buenos Aires province to change her child's name and gender on her identification documents and birth records to reflect her identity as a girl.
"As I understand it we have to give her an identity, a legal identity, right? Because right now Lulu does not exist; Manuel exists. So anything that happens to her is shown on Manuel's identification card. She is aware that she has a male's body." Gabriela said.
"And I explained to her about the identification card. Why? Because she asks me, "Mommy, why do they call me Manuel if I'm Lulu?" added Gabriela.
"I listened to my daughter and I saw her pain and I saw her suffering in a way I never want to see again. Today my daughter is a happy girl and before that my 2-year-old son was a sad boy. So given the choice between a sad boy hiding under the bed, I prefer a happy girl. I invite all the mom's who have a 6-year-old boy to give me a solution, an answer. What would they have done in my place with a 4-year-old boy who stands in front of you and says, 'My name is not Manuel, my name is Lulu and if you don't call me Lulu I won't speak to you anymore, I won't listen to you.' I'm his mother. I looked at him and I said. If you want to be a princess Mommy will help you be the prettiest princess in the world," Gabriela said of her child.
Lulu was born with and has male genitalia, but the Buenos Aires Province Cabinet Chief, Alberto Perez, said the decision made by the provincial government of Governor Daniel Scioli to recognize her as female falls under protections granted by Argentina's Gender Identity Law and the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child.
"I just spoke with Luana's mother because the government of the province of Buenos Aires has decided to give a solution to the problem facing this mother and the family and this solution involves rectifying the birth and the identification card, adapting them to Luana's identity. We are motivated by the idea that involves the Buenos Aires province as a pioneer in providing new rights to its citizens. We are the province with the most equal marriages [referring to same-sex marriages] with more than 2,000 of them. And today we are once again pioneers in recognizing this change in identity, adapting it to what the family has asked for, what the lawyers have asked for, to what the little girl herself has asked for. So, we believe this is covered by the Gender Identity Law, recently passed in Argentina, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is constitutionally binding in Argentina, that we are legally covered to do this. But furthermore, I repeat, a state idea by the government of (Buenos Aires Governor) Daniel Scioli, which has to do with all residents of the province of Buenos Aires, guarantees these rights," Perez said.
With the province's decision to change the birth records and Lulu's identification papers, she is now legally recognized as a girl.
All children in Argentina are given identity cards at birth, which specifies their name, gender and other personal information.