No Altering Birth Cert After Sex Change

(Manila, Philippines) The Philippine Supreme Court says that birth certificates will not be revised to accommodate biological changes resulting from elective surgery.

The high tribunal issued the ruling following a plea by a 45-year-old Filipino man to alter his birth records after becoming a woman through a sex-change operation in Bangkok five years ago.

The petitioner wanted to change his gender and name in his birth certificate to reflect her transformation so she can marry her American boyfriend.

The Supreme Court, however, ruled that the man's request was not possible at this time in the predominantly Catholic Philippines.

"Under the Civil Registrar Law, a birth certificate is a historical record of the facts as they existed at the time of birth," the court ruling said. "Thus, the sex of a person is determined at birth, visually done by the birth attendant by examining the genitals of the infant."

Makes sense to me. The birth certificate is a snapshot at a point in time. What the transgender types need is a rebirth certificate which could be appended to the actual birth certificate. That would also allow for those cases where people decide to change their sex more than once.