16 Facts About Lydia Foy

Lydia Annice Foy is an Irish trans woman notable for leading legal challenges regarding gender recognition in Ireland.

From early childhood Lydia Foy was conscious of a feeling of 'femininity'.

Lydia Foy graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Dental Surgery in 1971, and began to practice as a dentist.

In 1975, when living in Athlone, Lydia Foy met Anne Naughton through a music society.

Lydia Foy had psychiatric counselling, was diagnosed a transsexual, and was prescribed a course of hormone treatment.

Lydia Foy attended two further psychiatrists in England who diagnosed her as suffering from gender dysphoria.

Lydia Foy then began a process of transitioning from male to female, with electrolysis, breast augmentation surgery, operations on the nose and Adams apple and voice surgery.

Lydia Foy had left the family home in 1990, and a judicial separation was granted on 13 December 1991.

Lydia Foy began legal proceedings in April 1997, to challenge the refusal of the Registrar General to issue her with a new birth certificate.

Unemployed, Lydia Foy was represented in the action by Free Legal Advice Centres.

Judgment was reserved for nearly two years until 9 July 2002 when Mr Justice Liam McKechnie rejected Lydia Foy's challenge, stating that Foy had been born male based on medical and scientific evidence and that accordingly the registration could not be changed.

Lydia Foy did express concern about the position of transsexuals in Ireland and called on the government to urgently review the matter.

In 2005, the Lydia Foy case was sent back before the High Court by the Irish Supreme Court for further consideration.

Lydia Foy expressed frustration at the Irish government's failure to take any steps to improve the position of transsexuals following his previous judgment in 2002.

On 27 February 2013 Free Legal Advice Centres, representing Lydia Foy, announced that she had issued new proceedings in the Irish High Court seeking orders requiring the government to act on the judgment of Mr Justice McKechnie in 2007 and enable her to obtain a new birth certificate recognising her female gender.

In 1997, Lydia Foy grew the world's largest foxglove in her garden.