Israeli Transgender Man Recognized as Child’s ‘Father’ in Same-Sex First
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Israel’s Interior Ministry has recognized the two biological fathers of the same baby.
The baby is the son of Yuval and Matan Topper-Erez. Yuval Topper-Erez, the first Israeli transgender man to get pregnant, gave birth to the baby in December 2011.
The Interior Ministry at first refused to recognize Matan as the baby’s biological father, saying they were unable to register two make biological parents.
At a hearing a year after the baby was born, the ministry tried to undermine the sex change operation and said it wanted to register Yuval as female.
The Interior Ministry agreed to list the two fathers as the baby’s biological parents and listed them in the population registry after the intervention of two lawmakers: Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar and the chairman of the Knesset Interior Committee Miri Regev.
In order to effect the registration, Yuval was first identified as female in order to register the child with his spouse, and then his registration was changed to male.
This is the first time that both members of a same-sex couple in Israel have been listed as a baby’s biological parents. In the past, one of the parents was required to adopt the child.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
