Parents' dismay at baby girl's irreversible male birth certificate

A newborn baby girl will have to go through life with the wrong sex on her birth certificate after a registrar's error, which her parents have been told they can't change.

- Amelia Hill

Grace Bingham and her partner, Ewan Murray, registered their first child at the Mansfield Registration Olfice in Nottingham last week. But, after nights of broken sleep, they did not notice the registrar had written the wrong sex on the birth certificate until after it was submitted.

"We were horrified but assumed that, as we saw the mistake just a few seconds after it had happened, correcting it would be an easy matter," said Murray.

"But although the registrar apologised for her mistake, and the area manager also apologised, it turns out birth certificates can't be changed."

The General Register Office (GRO), which is responsible for administering all civil registration in England and Wales, and the Home Office have confirmed that Lilah's birth certificate cannot be reissued, although an amendment can be made in the margin ofthe original document.