Sex Change Has Legal Dilemma (Press, 5 April 1986)

Adrienne Clarke, a 22-year-old New Zealand cabaret entertainer, recently underwent a successful sex-change operation in Brighton, England. The procedure has posed legal challenges for her, as her New Zealand passport will soon reflect her new identity as a woman, while her birth certificate will continue to list her as male. Speaking from the private clinic where she is recovering, Clarke expressed her awareness of the potential complications this discrepancy may cause. Clarke, formerly known as Alan Clarke and a member of the Auckland all-male revue group La Belle Boys, is grateful for her New Zealand citizenship, which allows her to have her passport corrected. In contrast, transgender individuals in the UK undergoing similar operations are not permitted to change their legal gender on travel documents, remaining classified as male under British law. Her current passport merely contains a dash indicating an unspecified gender, but she looks forward to having it updated to reflect her female status. Despite this progress, Clarke's New Zealand birth certificate cannot be altered to indicate her female identity, as it is considered a historical document. This limitation adds to her concerns about potential legal issues related to her identity. The surgery, which took place on Good Friday, was a transformative step for Clarke, who had been living with a male body despite having female attributes due to a hormonal imbalance experienced by her mother during pregnancy. Prior attempts to secure a sex-change operation in Australia and Singapore were unsuccessful, leading her to the Brighton Clinic, which performs such surgeries approximately every six weeks. Clarke's mother, Beverly Clarke, who manages her daughter's cabaret career, accompanied her during this journey. Mrs Clarke noted with surprise that she was the first parent seen by the clinic accompanying a transgender patient, a situation she found concerning. She intends to advocate for parents to be more involved in supporting their transgender children rather than feeling embarrassed. The Clarkes have invested over $30,000 in medical expenses, travel, and accommodation associated with the surgery. After recovering in Brighton, the pair plans to visit Paris before returning to New Zealand later in April 1986.

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