A gender dysphoric 15-year-old has been granted access to cross-sex hormones despite a Family Court judge citing a legal void of the consequences of people regretting their change of gender and medically trying to reverse the decision.
Judge Terry McGuire ruled in favour of the child – known to the court as Kelly – taking the treatment, despite Kelly’s father indicating he did not support the intervention and did not provide his express consent.
Kelly has a developmental disorder, has identified as a girl since she was a toddler, and is currently experiencing bone degeneration, which is at least partly caused by the puberty blockers she has taken since 2022.
In delivering his decision, Justice McGuire said the court was “not oblivious” to medical, social science and legal considerations in respect of gender dysphoria, and relied on the evidence of five medical practitioners to inform his ruling.
But he said there was a “dearth of jurisprudence” pertaining to “regret syndrome” experienced by children who change their mind or wish to reverse their medical transition, despite there being a “prolificity of social comment” on the topic.
Barrister Belle Lane, who has been at the coal face of dozens of complex family law cases, in an interview in October said Australian judges were relying on precedent based on “outdated” medical information when allowing gender dysphoric children to access permanent treatments.
The Australian has been following a complex matter in which two parents differ on whether their eldest child should be prescribed with cross-sex hormones, which was the subject of a multi-week trial this year.
A decision in that matter will be handed down in due course.