WATCH: Norrie, a Sydney resident, who fought to be legally recognized as being of non-specific sex, praised the court decision
Australia’s highest court ruled Wednesday to recognize a third gender option on birth certificates.
Residents of New South Wales who don’t identify with traditional gender categories after having undergone gender reassignment surgery can use a more neutral term – “non specific.” This is Australia’s second jurisdiction to recognize a non-specific gender term, but the only one where you need an operation to qualify.
Norrie, a 52-year-old Sydney resident, has been fighting for the past four years to register with the New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages as neither male nor female.
“Why should people be left out because they’re not seen as male or female? They should be recognized as whatever they are and allowed to participate in society at an equal level,” Norrie told public broadcaster ABC.
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The battle went to the High Court after the registrar reversed a 2010 decision allowing Norrie to become the state’s first formally recognized “sex not specific” resident. Officials said their original decision had been “issued in error.”
Norrie appealed in 2012 and won; the registrar appealed in turn at the High Court.
The decision is expected to have national implications.
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Designation after surgery
New South Wales’ Birth, Deaths and Marriages Act “recognises that a person may be other than male or female,” Wednesday’s ruling stated.
The Guardian reported Norrie was born male but underwent gender reassignment surgery in Scotland in 1989. Since that time, Norrie has not identified as either male or female.
Amnesty International heralded the ruling, with one key caveat: The rulings appears to only recognize as “non-specific” people who’ve undergone gender reassignment surgery.
The Australian Capital Territory recognizes a third gender on birth certificates and doesn’t require citizens to have undergone reassignment procedures beforehand, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Australia has, since 2011, allowed passport holders who have undergone gender reassignment to have an X in place of gender designation of male or female.
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