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Canada  

Ordered to dress like a boy

A sexual minorities expert says judges need to be better educated about gender identity after two Alberta family court judges ruled that a child born a boy couldn't wear girls clothes in public.

The case involves a couple in Medicine Hat fighting over custody of the five-year-old.

The mother supports what she says is the child's wish to identify and dress as a girl, but the father does not and blames the mother for the child's gender confusion.

Last year, a judge ruled the child could only wear girls clothes in private. A second judge later upheld the decision.

A third judge recently removed the restriction and said the child can choose what clothes to wear.

"These kinds of decisions shouldn't be happening, particularly when our human rights legislation has changed," Kris Wells with the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta said Monday.

"Some of these attitudes need to be challenged and corrected."

Wells has been helping the mother and said she doesn't want the family identified.

He said the case makes it clear that the "next frontier" of awareness and education for the courts is gender identity, particularly involving young children.

Wells said he hopes Alberta Justice will look at the case and support the judiciary in becoming more knowledgeable and inclusive about gender issues.



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