Jewish trans woman allowed to appeal decision blocking her access to her kids
A trans woman who left an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community behind has been granted the right to appeal a ruling which prevented her from seeing her kids.
The woman, not identified in court documents earlier this year lost her court battle to be allowed to see five children from before her transition to female.
The woman, who kept her identity a secret during the court proceedings, had said she wanted to be “sensitively re-introduced” to her children.
She had not seen the children since before she left the Charedi Jewish community 18 months prior.
But her estranged wife said seeing her post transition could lead them to be alienated from within the community.
Family court judge Mr Justice Peter Jackson said he reached the decision “with real regret”.
But the woman has now been given a lifeline as she will be allowed to appeal the decision.
The appeal hearing, estimated to last one day, will take place on 15 November 2017.
Handing down his decision back in January, the judge said: “I can see no way in which the children could escape the adult reaction to them enjoying anything like an ordinary relationship with their father.
“In the final analysis, the gulf between these parents – the mother within the ultra-Orthodox community and the father as a transgender person – is too wide for the children to bridge.
“This outcome is not a failure to uphold transgender rights, still less a ‘win’ for the community, but the upholding of the rights of the children to have the least harmful outcome in a situation not of their making.”
Mr Justice Jackson had said the outcome was best for the children, aged between two and 12.
He had heard testimony from both parents, and analysed evidence about Jewish law and custom.
The oldest boy was also met by the judge.
“Their parents’ marriage ended in June 2015, when their father left home to live as a transgender person,” Mr Justice Jackson said.
“She now lives as a woman and has had no contact with the children since she left.
“Her outward identity was of course male when she was at home and she retains that identity in the minds of the children, and indeed in the mind of the community.”
He continued: “The reason why the father has had no contact with the children is to be found in the attitude of the community to people in her position.”
A transgender woman who was formerly an ultra-Orthodox rabbi earlier this week opened up about her transition journey.
