Parliament must fix the law on trans parenthood

Since 2004, we have had a law which enables people to legally change gender. Yet, the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA 2004) actually works against trans people who wish to become parents.

Recent cases have highlighted that the interplay between the GRA 2004 and other pieces of legislation dealing with parenthood through assisted reproduction and birth registration (the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 and the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, respectively) simply does not work for children born to trans parents.

This is not a culture wars issue; this is a children's law issue. The current law, as explained below, simply does not make sense. Children born to trans parents should be entitled to legal certainty about who their parents are, and trans parents ultimately should be able to have their parentage legally recognised in their new legal gender.

In 2020, the Court of Appeal in the case of McConnell & Anor v The Registrar General for England and Wales [2020] confirmed that Freddy McConnell, a trans man with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), must be recorded as his child's mother on their birth certificate because he gave birth.

In June 2026, the European Court of Human Rights handed down its decision in Y and X v United Kingdom, the case brought by McConnell. McConnell argued that the decision of the Court of Appeal violated his and his child's right to respect for private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In a blow for McConnell and all birthing trans people, the ECHR agreed with the Court of Appeal, finding that the UK struck a fair balance between the competing interests and declared the Article 8 complaint inadmissible.

Whilst McConnell's case may have been the first legal case of its kind, it is no longer an outlier as many trans men are choosing to come off testosterone to achieve a pregnancy. Children born to these parents will, therefore, always have a birth certificate that does not reflect their reality.

For non-birthing trans men, the law also fails their children. In December 2025, Mrs Justice Leiven, in the reported judgment of FZ v MZ [2025], held that a non-birthing trans man with a GRC, married to the birthing mother and using donor sperm, was not a legal parent.

Ordinarily, section 35 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 would have recognised the husband as the child's father. But section 9 of the GRA 2004 expressly carves parenthood out from legal gender recognition. Nor could he rely on section 42 of the 2008 Act to be recognised as a second female parent (even if he had wanted to) because, for the purposes of marriage, his GRC was recognised, meaning that he was legally male and married as a man and not a woman.

The result – no legal parentage whatsoever – was extraordinary. Whilst Justice Lieven recognised that there is a 'lacuna or inconsistency in the statutory scheme', she failed to grapple with it and deferred the matter to Parliament to sort out. That, however, does not seem to be a priority for the government.

So where does this leave trans parents? For birthing trans men, the law is, unfortunately, settled, whether they have a GRC or not. Non-birthing married trans people with GRCs who are parents already and have been (wrongly) named on their child's birth certificate in their affirmed gender (which we know anecdotally has been happening) face a significant quandary.

They can say nothing and hope their precarious legal parentage is never challenged by way of a declaration of non-parentage: a deeply unsatisfactory position for both parent and child, and not advisable. Alternatively, they could 'come clean' now and put themselves through a lengthy, invasive and costly step-parent adoption application in order to properly secure legal parentage in the only legitimate way now available for non-birthing trans people.

Non-birthing trans people hoping to become parents one day face another quandary: prioritise their family-building dreams and defer any application for a GRC to enable them to become legal parents in their original gender, or prioritise their identity needs, knowing that becoming a parent will be harder.

Fertility clinics, which may also have misinterpreted the law and treated trans patients in their acquired legal gender, may also need to audit past patients to identify those who may not know that they are improperly recorded as their child's parent on their birth certificate.

Understanding the extent of the issue, and how many people are affected, is the first step in trying to achieve change, as data is key. Any trans parent or aspiring trans parent who is unsure of their legal parenthood status or what to do now is invited to contact me for legal advice.

Freddy McConnell, as part of his organisation Equality for Trans Families, is running a survey designed to build a picture of UK birth registrations where one or both parents are trans. The survey is open and can be accessed here, and all trans parents are strongly encouraged to participate. I am working with Freddy and other trans parents to understand the breadth of this issue so that efforts can be coordinated to lobby for change.

Trans parents and their children are living under the spectre of a legal ticking time bomb. The current state of our law leaves trans parents in limbo and children without the certainty that family law is supposed to provide.

The Gender Recognition Act 2004, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 and the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 should work together to protect the children of trans parents. Parliament can no longer ignore the gaps in the legislation, leaving trans parents as 'second-class' parents and failing their children. Reform is overdue and should not be filed in the 'too difficult' pile.