Local facing identity crisis after sex change operationBy Sanaa Maadad UAE Editor, and Eman Al Baik14 July 2005DUBAI — Hamda, formerly Hamad, a young UAE national, is now suffering from an identity crisis because of a lack of legislation on sex change in the country. Amidst social condemnation and the absence of an official stance on the issue, Hamda is campaigning for the right to be legally declared a female.
The concept of sex change is still taboo in Arab societies. However, irrespective of Hamad's reasons to become a woman, and the country where the operation took place, Hamda is a reality which society must now face. "Hamda is now a fact that we must face. We cannot keep treating her as a male. Not recognising Hamda's right to legalise her new identity is oppression from a human point of view," commented Dr Mohammed Abdullah Al Rokn, a reputed lawyer and human rights activist in the UAE and the former chairman of the Emirates Jurists Association.
The case provoked questions of acceptance of such operations from legal, religious and social perspectives. On government documents, Hamda is still Hamad. Friends and neighbours who used to teasingly call him Hamda since he was a child, are now showering abuses when he became Hamda for all practical purposes. "On government documents, she is still Hamad until further notification," said Brigadier Saeed bin Bleilah, Director of Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD). "The department cannot accept any request for changing a citizen's sex on government documents without a court order."
He said that Hamad should first obtain a medical report from the Ministry of Health stating that his condition required an urgent surgical intervention. "If Hamad obtained a court order to change his sex, only then the DNRD can amend the personal data. Only then, he can be officially recognised as a female," he explained adding, "But if not, Hamada will continue to be a man in the eyes of the government in spite of his feminine features."
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