Trans woman sues Israel for having to keep her birth name on her identity card

An Israeli trans woman has petitioned Israel’s highest court to change a 66-year-old law that requires people to have their birth name on their national identity card for seven years. Haaretz reported daily this week.

“It was like a stain from the past, it was a scar, a symbol of who I was,” 22-year-old Nofar Morali told the newspaper when he saw his old name on his identity card.

Although Morali has legally changed her name and is identified as a woman on the birth certificate, the 1956 law states that her identity card also includes a copy of her seven-year old name.

“It’s like a mark on which I’ve been stuck for seven years,” Morali said. Haaretz.

The report called on the Supreme Court to “order changes in the law so that she and other transgender people can live without being constantly reminded of their gender and birth name.”

The petition alleges that the decision violates Morali’s right to personal autonomy and privacy, as well as equality and personal security.

“Of course, the legislator’s intention is not to seriously harm constitutionally protected rights and force transgender people to go to the toilet. In cases where the rule does not cause problems in most cases, but where its application in exceptional and extraordinary situations leads to a serious violation of constitutional rights, a remedy must be provided.

Morali also launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund a gender verification operation.

Morali’s 21-year-old friend Or Aviv also talked about the same problem.

“I have a name that doesn’t really suit me – it’s too big and old-fashioned. I need to change this as soon as possible, even before the transition starts,” he said.

“I was working in a place where I had to answer the phone if asked. I would reply in a female voice but using my old name. “It’s disturbing,” he said. – I didn’t know it would stay on my papers. I soon discovered that my old name was there. I was a little shocked. I was told that was the way it was, so I couldn’t completely change my personality.

“Thousands of trans people should not suffer because of an old law,” Aviv said.

“If I have to give my ID as collateral, like getting a visitor card to a secure facility,” Morali says, “I don’t want anyone to see my old name. I have not committed a crime. I was personally hurt by all the gender discontent I had to go through. As a trans woman, I was unaware that the official document with the old name left me no escape from it.