A British court has ruled that the children of a Jewish transgender woman may not see their parent due to the likelihood that they will be “marginalised or excluded by the ultra-Orthodox community”.
The Independent reports that a transgender parent has had access to her children denied by a family court in Manchester. The ruling, the first of its kind, found that the children and the biological mother could be “marginalised or excluded by the ultra-Orthodox community”. The family is part of the ultra-orthodox Jewish Charedis.
The trans parent, who is living as a woman is only allowed “indirect” contact to her children four times a year. The ruling comes despite Orthodox Jewish rabbis suggesting that Judaism should not punish transgender people in this way.
Justice Jackson concluded that there was a “risk” that the mother and her children could be rejected by their community, if they had direct, “face to face contact with their father”. He express regret before his ruling saying, that the “father’s” application for contact would be refushed.
He said,
“I therefore conclude with real regret, knowing the pain that it must cause, that the father’s application for direct contact must be refused.”
