Israel’s Interior Ministry for the first time has recognized two biological fathers of the same baby.

The baby was born in December 2011 to Yuval Topper-Erez, the first Israeli transgender man to get pregnant, and Matan Topper-Erez. After Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar and the chairman of the Knesset Interior Committee, Miri Regev, intervened on behalf of the couple, the ministry recognized both men as the child’s biological parents.

Previously the ministry had refused to recognize Matan as the baby’s biological father, saying it would not register two male biological parents. At a hearing a year after the baby was born, the ministry said it wanted to register Yuval as a female.

To effect the registration, Yuval was first identified as female in order to register the child with his spouse, and then his registration was changed to male.

In the past, one of the parents of a same-sex couple was required to adopt the child for the couple to be listed as the parents. — jta