Australian High Court permits ‘non-specific’ gender option
Australia’s High Court has ruled that a mononymous gender campaigner should be permitted to adopt a neutral gender, The Guardian reports.
The ruling ends a four-year campaign by Norrie, who originally applied in 2010 for a name change and “non-specific” gender. Their application was initially supported by the New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, but that support was later revoked by the registrar with the belief that changing the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act 1995 (NSW) to recognize more than two genders would cause “unacceptable confusion”. Norrie took the case to the court of appeal, who found in their favor, but the registrar appealed to the high court.
Norrie’s legal team argued before the court that forcing Norrie to choose a binary gender when they identified as neither would maintain the fiction that Norrie had to belong to one or the other. The high court panel, consisting of five judges, ruled unanimously in the case, stating “The question in this appeal is whether it was within the registrar’s power to record in the register that the sex of the respondent, Norrie, was ‘not specific’. That question should be answered in the affirmative.”
Furthermore, any person who undergoes sex affirmation surgery and remains “of indeterminate sex” should not be automatically registered as either male or female. “The act itself recognises that a person may be other than male or female and therefore may be taken to permit the registration sought, as ‘non-specific’.”
The ruling, though specific to New South Wales, will have legal impact across Australia. Norrie’s lawyer Scott McDonald told reporters, “A couple of states have similar legislation – Victoria and Queensland. WA has quite different legislation. It won’t be binding [there]. It will have persuasive authority.” He continued, “To the extent it sent a message of what the high court expects, and that sex is not binary, I think that’s a message that can be felt through the states’ legislation on this issue.”
Norrie told reporters that it was a “great outcome”, especially given that the ruling had nation-wide impact. “Maybe people will understand there’s more options than the binary. Even if an individual might be male or female their friends might not be.” When asked about the impact the length of the trial had, Norrie said, “It was swings and roundabouts, but I’m on Wikipedia now. And these people have done the hard work. I didn’t have to stand up in court.” They then added, “It’s important for people to have equal rights in society. Why should people be left out because they’re seen as not male or female? They should be recognised wherever they are and allowed to participate in society at an equal level.”
Image Credit: Lisa Lush/Facebook
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