Jakarta Globe – AFP, Apr 02, 2014
Image taken in June 2013 shows Norrie, who launched a legal bid to introduce a new gender-neutral status in Australia. (AFP Photo) |
Sydney.
Australia’s highest court on Wednesday ruled that a person can be legally
recognized as gender neutral as opposed to male or female, ending a long legal
battle by a sexual equality campaigner.
“The High
Court… recognizes that a person may be neither male nor female, and so permits
the registration of a person’s sex as ‘non‑specific’,” it said in a unanimous judgement, dismissing a
New South Wales state appeal to recognize only men or women.
The case
centered on a person called Norrie — who does not identify as either male or
female — who fought a legal battle for a new gender-neutral category.
Norrie, who
uses only a single name, was born male and underwent gender reassignment
surgery in 1989 to become a woman.
But the
surgery failed to resolve Scottish-born Norrie’s ambiguity about their sexual
identity, prompting a push for the recognition of a new, non-traditional
gender.
The
campaigner made global headlines in February 2010 when an application to the
NSW Department of Births, Deaths and Marriages accepted that “sex non-specific”
could be accepted for Norrie’s records.
But soon
afterwards the office revoked its decision, saying the certificate was invalid
and had been issued in error. At the time, Norrie said the decision felt like
being “socially assassinated”.
That
sparked a series of appeals which resulted in the NSW Court of Appeal
recognizing Norrie as gender neutral last year, a decision which the High Court
backed on Wednesday.
Norrie’s
lawyers argued in court that the activist was “being forced to live a lie”
every time their client filled out a document that listed only two options for
gender.
“Norrie’s
sex remained ambiguous so that it would be to record misinformation in the
register to classify her as male or female,” the judgment said.
Norrie told
AFP last year that most people did not have a problem accepting a non-specific
sex category.
“People
seem to be able to accommodate the truth,” the Sydney resident said.
“I’m not
the first person like this in society, I’m the one that happened to put my hand
up for this particular case — I stand on the shoulders of giants.”
The
Intersex International Australia organization welcomed the High Court ruling.
“We hope
that the media will respect the difference between intersex and transgender
identities, and identify Norrie’s gender as ‘non-specific’,” it said.
Agence France-Presse
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