Sex not specified

[JesusA (imported)]

Clearly some progress is being made in Australia (or at least in New South Wales). The government has issued its first ‘birth certificate equivalent’ for someone who is neither “male” nor “female.” norrie mAy Welby transitioned first from male to female and then from female to neither – going off all hormones. Zie (norrie’s preferred personal pronoun) is only one of a number of individuals who have made this two-stage transition, but she is the most public about it of any I know.

As reported by Hage and Karim in 2000 (see the full bibliographic citation on the Bibliography thread on the Nonfiction Board), about a quarter of those approved for castration as an early step in MtF transition in the Netherlands stop at that stage and do not transition further, even though full SRS is paid for under their national health plan. They have moved to “not male,” but do not transition further to “female.” Recognition of alternative genders is gradually spreading.

There is a link to a brief biography of norrie from the article and a link to zir website from the biography.

Sex not specified:

Australia leads the way with legal document

The Scavenger (Australia)

March 8, 2010

EXCLUSIVE: 8 March 2010: The NSW government in Australia has issued what is believed to be the world’s first ‘Sex Not Specified’ Recognised Details Certificate in place of a birth certificate, writes Katrina Fox.

Norrie, a member of Sex and Gender Education (SAGE), a lobby group campaigning for the rights of all sex and gender diverse people has been issued with what is understood to be the world’s first ‘Sex Not Specified’ Recognised Details Certificate in place of a birth certificate.

This means that Norrie (also known as norrie mAy-Welby) – a resident of Sydney, NSW – is legally recognised as neither male nor female according to the Australian government.

Originally Norrie, 48, was born in Scotland and registered as male at birth. At age 23 Norrie commenced sex and gender conversion to female through hormone and construction of a vagina and was then issued with a gender recognition certificate as female in Australia.

But this did not work out for Norrie as zie (gender-neutral pronoun) did not feel comfortable living solely as a female so zie ceased lifelong hormone treatment and took up a neuter identity which is neither male nor female, resisting any further female or male normalisation.

In January 2010 doctors declared that they were unable to determine Norrie as either male or female as zie has no gonads, the hormonal system was atypically male or female, and Norrie’s psychological identity was neuter.

NSW Births Deaths and Marriages then issued the ‘Sex Not Specified’ Details Recognition Certificate in accordance with recommendations made by the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2009 report on the legal rights of sex and gender diverse people proposing a greater scope of legal recognition be used beyond male and female for certain individuals.

“This decision now has fundamental ramifications for neuter and intersex identified individuals in that they no longer have to be forced to live as male or female,” said Tracie O’Keefe, spokesperson for SAGE.

“Furthermore it is an enormous legal breakthrough for the rights of intersex children whose doctors and parents are confused about their sex at births and that they could be registered as ‘Sex Not Specified’ until they decide what sex would be right for them,” O’Keefe continued.

“Many intersex children have been forced into male and female identities, when not medically necessary, which they later felt were incorrect, including unnecessary brutal surgery to give them stereotypical looking genitalia, often leaving them without sensation or function.”

http://www.thescavenger.net/glbsgdq/sex ... 56345.html

[blaud857 (imported)]

SHould that be gender not specified?

[graylayer02 (imported)]

"Zie" sounds so...Prussian and stiff. Still, this is cool.

[kristoff]

SHould that be gender not specified?

gender and sex are not the same thing. The authorities are only interested in whether their is a vagina or penis present in most cases. Some progress - now they acknowledge None of the Above.

[mrt (imported)]

Humm... Would I then be Pseudo Male?! Or male to MALE TS?

[punkypink (imported)]

Maybe legal documents should really include both gender and sex.

It is very confusing when some countries refer to psychological gender-identity when they say gender/sex in the legal system, whilst others refer to the physical sex with the same terms.

I know there is a person in Nepal who is recognised as being both genders, although he is physically male. So clearly, in the Nepalease case, they take psychological gender as precedence, whilst in the NSW Oz case, they take physical sex as precedence.

I personally do prefer the recognition to be on the gender, and I don't wonder in Zie's case, that Zie also psychologically identifies as either/neither/in-between.

As I have mentioned before, I once had to fill in a form at a police station in Northern Ireland. On the form, they had male, female, transsexual, and others as their options. It was nice because I guess it indicated their willingness to be all-inclusive and recognise people who exist outside of the majority gender-duality, but I guess it was also not exactly correct because transsexual is technically not a gender or a sex. I would reckon the usage of transsexual to have to be mated to a gender or sex to indicate that the gender and physical sex of a person are not the same(bearing in mind I consider physical sex to be indicated by the chromosomes, and not by the sort of plumbing one has).

The world, I guess, is straining towards enlightenment. Acknowledgements where it is due. However, I'd like to see the pace pick up, and sometimes, I feel that there are too many people in society, and surprisingly even one or two on the EA, who are trying to block or delay positive progress.

[erikboy (imported)]

As I have mentioned before, I once had to fill in a form at a police station in Northern Ireland. On the form, they had male, female, transsexual, and others as their options. It was nice because I guess it indicated their willingness to be all-inclusive and recognise people who exist outside of the majority gender-duality, but I guess it was also not exactly correct because transsexual is technically not a gender or a sex.

Just an evil comment about police. I don't know what was the form you filled there. But I think that police generally have much different intentions in defining genders that just to be progressive or to please people who do not fit into female/male cathegory. The more data they get out of you, the more happy they are.

For Authorities I think it shouldn't be important what am I or what I think. They need to be sure on my appeareance and physical features only. In some cases it would be extremely difficult to describe gender not speaking of understanding by clerks or who ever should show interest in your passport. There is no need to define even male or female. Perhaps photo, fingerprint and DNA (XX or XY or whatever) is enough.