14 DAY TRIAL // A bureaucratic mistake has ruined a British woman’s dreams of living permanently in Australia after registrars wrongly recorded her as a male on her birth certificate.
After spending a year in Australia, Kim Walmsley and her family decided to apply for permanent residency there, but sadly they were forced to move from Oz back to the UK after the 49-year-old woman discovered she was accidentally listed as a boy in official documents when she was born in February 1965.
“The whole thing is absolutely disgusting. I’ve lived nearly 40 years not realizing I was actually registered as a boy and then all of a sudden my whole life fell apart,” Kim said, according to Mirror.
Due to the legal mishap, her 23-year marriage to husband Jack was declared “gay” and illegal in the country, so they had to give up their dream and return to UK to fight their case. According to Metro, a law allowing gay marriage was passed in Australia late last year, but was rescinded shortly after by the High Court.
Kim only found out about the error in the register’s office records in September 2003 when she requested a copy of her birth certificate so that she could apply for a permanent Australian visa.
Initially, the mother-of-five thought it was just a small misunderstanding which could be solved with some official forms, but the General Registry Office could not help her. She was told the information could not be changed and the only person left who could intervene to help them was Prime Minister David Cameron.
The couple and their five children had to move back to England and until now they have spent around £150,000 ($253,000/€182,500) trying to sort things out. They are now living in Liverpool, Merseyside, where they have been subject to ridicule and mockery, including homophobic graffiti near their home.
“We live in a small community and we felt really intimidated. I don’t want people thinking I’ve had a sex change. Some people might think the kids are adopted and that I’m trying to hide the fact I’m a man,” Kim added.
Apparently, their local MP Bill Esterson has written to Prime Minister David Cameron explaining that the ridiculous mistake made nearly half a century ago is still affecting Kim and her family today.
“Would it be possible for you as Prime Minister to use your discretion to allow ‘boy’ to be completely deleted from the original entry in the registry book and replaced with ‘girl’ being the correct gender?” he asked in the official letter.