ABU DHABI: An Emirati woman has sought leave to have a sex change operation in what would be a first for the United Arab Emirates, newspapers reported yesterday.

The application to the court in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi comes after a change in the law took effect earlier this month legalizing gender reassignment surgery.

Lawyer Ali Al-Mansouri told Gulf News the 29-year-old woman always felt strongly that she was not the gender she physically appeared to be. He said his client’s feeling that her body does not reflect her true gender caused her severe distress, anxiety and depression. “She has been undergoing physical and psychological care since 2012 and a medical commission had recommended that she undergo a sex-change surgery.”