I have a “boy friend” who’s celebrating his birthday today, but only a few people know one of his secrets.

Here it is: He may be a boy or a male but, legally, he’s a she. Yes, folks, my “boy” friend is legally a girl, according to the his birth certificate.

But now — after over two decades, after getting a wife and after fathering a son — it has finally dawned on him that he must wrestle with authorities to make them correct this legal anomaly in his birth certificate.

I am sure you know some people whose birth certificates have erroneous entries. They live a daily nightmare and the madness ends only when they manage to correct it.

Years back, they had to file before a court any application to make correct these errors. As we are all aware, legal processes involving courts need patience, grease money and more patience.

Now, thanks to Republic Act 9048, correcting wrong entries in a birth certificate may be filed at the city or municipal registrars’ office or before consuls. Read the primer on RA 9048 here.

This process however is limited to clerical or typographical errors in the birth certificate. Unfortunately for my legally female boy friend, petitions for change in sex, age and nationality shall still be filed with the courts.

What must he do? Just these ten steps! — and afterwards — voila! — he’ll be recognized legally as a boy. Going through these will make the wheels of government turn to finally correct an error made by a clerk some 22 or 23 years ago.

I wish my friend the best today, his natal day, and hope he finally succeeds in correcting his birth certificate just in time for the next (and so he could say yes to invitations for him to attend events abroad, which he simply can’t do right now because the DFA won’t give him a passport while being legally female.)

To him and all those who share his legal predicament, I say “We will win!”.