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A woman who claims she has been excommunicated from the Mormon Church because she had a sex change operation has filed a High Court writ seeking her re-instatement.

Jessica Park - who used to be known as Stewart J. C. Park - claims the Hong Kong International District Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints excluded her from the church in a 'highly humiliating' and 'painful' manner.

She claims the church made the announcement from the pulpit 'in front of everybody' during a specially convened service. 'They said Brother Stewart was being excommunicated when I had been living as Jessica for over a year; it was extremely humiliating,' she claimed.

The church, which is seeking an injunction barring Ms Park from its premises, did not return calls last night.

Ms Park - who is in her 40s and says she runs a security company with offices across Asia - had the sex change operation in January last year and claims the church did not follow due process when it ejected her.

'I am just Joe Public, or should I say, Mary Public, trying to get on in life,' she said.

In her two-page writ filed in the High Court yesterday, Ms Park is seeking unspecified damages for pain and suffering, as well as her re-instatement into the church.

The writ says: 'A declaration against [the church and its Disciplinary Council] that the decision on 2nd December 1999 to excommunicate [Ms Park] from [the church] was illegal, null and void and/or was contrary to natural justice.'

Ms Park said that after the sex-change she had intensive hormone replacement therapy and had been suffering from severe depression, leading to several suicide attempts.

She said it was during this 'very difficult time' that the church decided to banish her.

'They insisted that I don't speak, don't take the sacrament, and I did so for 12 months, but then they decided to take out an injunction against me . . . because several members of the church were upset,' she claimed.

The church yesterday filed an injunction seeking to bar her from setting foot on 22 church properties listed in the five-page document.

The injunction seeks to restrain Ms Park from entering any of the listed premises without the church's written consent. It does not explain why they want to stop her.

The church's legal representatives made no comment yesterday.

Ms Park said the reaction from other church-goers had been 'negative and unkind'. She claimed she was even barred from attending Bible study group.

'The church is supposed to bring a lost sheep back, not kick it out,' she said. 'We are not a sin, an abomination, we are just different people.

'I am just trying to make the church a better Christian church. When talking about religion, Jesus went after the people who were in trouble and did not take steps to kick them out.'



I had been living as Jessica for over a year before they excommunicated me, says woman