In a very controversial ruling the court ordered that the 12 year-old, name withheld for her privacy, be allowed to start hormone treatment in the first step toward a complete gender swap and to apply for new birth certificate, passport and Medicare card in a boy's name.
The Victorian Family Court has approved a 12-year-old girl to begin the process of having a sex change over the objections from her father and with the girl's family claiming she was "brainwashed" from early childhood by her mother.
This ruling came down after a two day hearing and over the father of the girl objecting strenuously to the sex swap.
Other members of the family claim the girl has been "brainwashed" by her mother since birth because she wanted the girl to be born a boy.
This family member, a cousin, says he lived with the family between 1999 and 200, the home was troubled and that the mother used to buy the girl "boys' underwear and clothing".
He goes on to say that "Her mother brainwashed her from a very young age. "The girl had very tomboyish tendencies and the mother fostered that and told her, 'I always wanted a boy and I'm glad you're acting like a boy'."
He is helping the father apply for free legal help because the father ran out of money to continue fighting this legally.
Dr Nicholas Tonti-Filippini, who is a Medical ethicist, expressed shock iover this ruling saying it was "astounding", he then added, "I fail to see how it can be in the interests of a young girl to undergo treatment that will change her for the rest of her life."
Experts have weighed in on both sides of this issues, with Australian Family Association spokeswoman Angela Conway saying she was "very disturbed a group of experts have concluded that a 12-year-old girl has the capacity to make such life-changing decisions on her own".
On the other side of the argument was Transgender Victoria's Sally Goldner, who asserts, "They may not have an intellectual understanding or know words like transgender, but it's unfair to say children don't know how they feel about their own bodies."
The Victorian Family Court heard that the beginning processes that they have ruled to allow, are reversible and would give the family "breathing time", yet the cousin, speaking on the father's behalf maintains, "I question how reversible the treatment is. There will be psychological consequences that are not reversible.
'I don't think the side effects have been adequately considered. How people treat her will have an effect.
'She will never have this time in her life again."
The experts argue about the ethics of allowing a 12 year-old to make this type of life altering opinion, the parents argue over what is best for their little girl and the the families rage about "brainwashing", yet despite the controversy surrounding this legal approval for the girl, she now will begin the treatments that very well may change her life forever.
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