ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the legal backdrop against which the rights of transgender people have emerged, and subsequently how international and European human rights law, are constructing gender. It looks at the establishment of parenthood under the Act Relating to Children and Parents 1981 and how the rules apply to transgender parents. The continuing operation of biologic is clearly apparent, working as a constant reminder of the 'otherness' of parents whose gender identity differs from their birth-assigned gender. The chapter provides a more thorough discussion of how law works to govern parenthood and why law matters. It argues that, even though law does not preclude transgender parents, parenthood is regulated in such a way that transgender people appear as other to the norm. The chapter concludes by suggesting that it would be beneficial to gender-neutralise parenthood under the law as a way of covering all gender identities, including those that the law currently marginalises or does not recognise at all.
