Thursday, Mar. 18, 2010 - Quotes of the Day - TIME.com

The concepts of man or woman don't fit me.

NORRIE MAY-WELBY,
who became the first person in the world to be classified as genderless after officials in New South Wales, Australia, altered May-Welby's birth certificate to specify the neutral gender

the most famous androgynous freak in the world

My God, I may be the most famous androgynous freak in the world, and not just for now, but for a long time, with scholars and such, at least, in Gender Studies as a footnote, and I can do talk shows if I have a book to do a book tour with, and i have a huge back catalog of stuff but really if I'm not too appallingly lazy I can kick out a 500 word article once a week, and my goodness there will actually be an audience for my ravings on ethics, interconnectedness, happiness and storytelling, language and feeling, comic books and cosmic narcissism, scotch and diet coke thanks.

Not only that, but I will be so famous with students of gender studies and social change and all that, that there actually WILL be someone willing to sort out the huge pile of newspaper and magazine cuttings I've been too bone lazy to even paste into a scrapbook in the last (cough cough) ten years.... OTOH it's a good thing I've been prolific, for those keen on such things, and geez, I hope some of it gets more attention than the more depressive dribblings on one of my blogs (which is where I confess to being a founding member of the Manic Depressive Society at uni, but that's cos we figured all uni students were by nature of exams and partying with uni students, alternatively very stressed/unhappy or very gruntled/happy. I mean, here is where I confess thar, not there, in that blog, which i was momentarily tempted to take down or censor, but that would be bad karma, i reckon,so whatever, I write/draw/sing/whatever, you choose whatever tickles your fancy or sticks in your brain).

I am an underachieving egomaniac's dream come true! I actually just got lucky! No, honestly, there are heaps of people in Sydney, and in Australia, and all around the world, working to remove gender barriers for the differently gendered or sexed or inclined, and many of them are like me in some way physically in between, or both, or neither, or whatever, yeah, in many different and beautiful ways, many sexy sexy ways ; )

I just got lucky in being in the right place at the right time with the right background and the right zeigeist and the right people to know... my goodness, little old me, 3 steps from the PM (via my mate Georgina Beyer former NZ MP, well, we shared a cigarette cough cough at a conference once, but she knows Helen (Clarke, former NZ PM), and Helen knows Kev...), and bless Greens Leader Lee Rhiannon, who knew me from the front lines at demos, and who not only turned up for my demo at the Human Rights Commission, but who actually asked a question about my case in parliament that very day! and bless the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, for asking serous questions of the AG, and I don't actually know Gordon Moyes, the reverand MP from Family First, who also supports my sex not specified status, but may the Goddess bless him too ; ) and forgive me for losing the plot to that sentence, but it is all a bit gasp overwhelming too

And of course it's not just a local phenomena, support and interest is worldwide, and it's a buzz to be able to serve such an important cause, and have such a boost to one's sense of meaningfulness and my god fulfilment except of course, the day I dream of will never come true, for my dream is totally equal and fair and loving treatment of everyone everywhere, from the housepets to the cartoonists, from sea to shining sea, and it is an ideal to focus on and move towards, not a target to despair of never reaching. Where there is progress, there is only a relatively small number who can see where we're going, or where we ought go, compared to those still obsessed by whatever rut they're in. So, blessed are the freaks, and me specifically, obviously : D

Ooh it's better than an E

Not an 80s E, maybe, but better than they are nowadays

Omigod I'm that old I just said that

Ha ha, that brings me down to earth lol

But jeez if this happened twenty years ago it'd be buried in a few weeks, instead of lasting forever on the internet, and I can publish anything without needing an audience of any size, unlike the old media so dependent on the economics of mass production, and it is easy to transmit virally, as indeed the ideas and memes I pass on are ideas and memes passed to me by friends who read Foucault (and I'm still too lazy to), or Quentin Crisp (who I read, and shared a docudrama with ; ) [sexing the label], and Asimov, oh, Isaac, and many great comic book writers and others.

Alright, time for my manic insomnia to wear off, and for me to dream of being Fallom making love with Daneel...

Goodnight and Jah bless, y'all

Commentary: Census doesn't fairly count transgender persons | McClatchy

By Kalil Cohen | The Progressive Media Project

All the advertising I have seen for the 2010 census has a unified message: We must all participate so we can count. However, some of us will be participating in this census, but will not be accurately counted.

On the 2010 census home page is "Portraits of America," a collection of short videos from an array of racially diverse Americans, including many immigrants. The tagline to the video states: "Make sure your story is captured as we make a new portrait of the nation."

While I support the inclusion of communities of color in census data collection, I am dismayed to see that similar efforts are not being made to include gender-variant communities, meaning people who are not only "male" or "female." The 2010 census form collects information on age, sex, race, ethnicity and living arrangements. In 2000, the census form was finally altered to allow participants to identify with all their racial and ethnic groups rather than being forced to choose only one. This gave the government much more complex and accurate data regarding U.S. residents.

Similarly, there needs to be a way to self identify one's sex beyond "male" or "female" on the census forms.

Sex, like race, is a complex category.

A person's sex includes hormones, chromosomes, and physical features, which may not neatly align as either male or female. As we saw last fall with world-class runner Caster Semenya, athletic boards have difficulty sometimes classifying people as male or female.

The reality is that there are not only two sexes, but these are still the only two options on the 2010 census form. This leaves people who fall outside the categories of "male" or "female" unable to identify themselves on the census. This prevents transsexual, transgender, intersex and other gender-variant individuals from accurately being counted by the 2010 census.

It is important for these communities to be counted accurately by the census not only to give us a true picture of our nation but also to allow gender-variant individuals to access the programs they need. Those programs depend on federal funding, and that funding level depends on how many people are counted.

For instance, in Los Angeles there are medical and educational services for transgender individuals that should receive federal funding based on the number of gender-variant county residents, a number that will not be collected by the 2010 census. Without the ability to mark our sex accurately on the census form, we are rendered invisible. We do not, in fact, count.

This has got to change by the 2020 census.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Kalil Cohen is a writer for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine. Readers may write to the author at: Progressive Media Project, 409 East Main Street, Madison, Wis. 53703; e-mail: pmproj@progressive.org; Web site: www.progressive.org. For information on PMP's funding, please visit http://www.progressive.org/pmpabout.html#anchorsupport.

This article was prepared for The Progressive Media Project and is available to MCT subscribers. McClatchy-Tribune did not subsidize the writing of this column; the opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of McClatchy-Tribune or its editors.

Norrie ready to battle with the govt

Author:: Andrew M Potts
Posted:: Tuesday, 23 March 2010

Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) after NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages cancelled the “sex not specified” certificate it provided in February. Norrie received the certificate the day before the Mardi Gras parade and the story was picked up by news services around the globe when norrie went public last week.
But norrie received a phone call from Registrar Greg Curry on Tuesday last week, saying the certificate would be cancelled.
Norrie claims Curry said the backflip was a result of the Registry being pressured by the NSW Attorney General’s office.
However, Curry denies this, saying, “At no time did the registrar state or imply that the Attorney General or anyone else had pressured him to cancel the certificate”.
A Births, Deaths and Marriages spokeswoman told Sydney Star Observer that media interest in the case had not affected its decision.
Births, Deaths and Marriages would not confirm if it had received legal advice prior to issuing the certificate, but said subsequent advice determined it was unable to provide documents with anything other than “male” or “female” on them.
Norrie lodged the AHRC complaint last Thursday at its Sydney headquarters, accompanied by supporters and NSW Greens leader Lee Rhiannon.
Rhiannon later questioned Attorney General John Hatzistergos in Parliament — calling on him to release any legal advice given and to change the law in line with the Commission’s 2009 recommendation that a person over 18 years of age be able to choose an unspecified sex for legal purposes.
“This issue was ventilated in the media and a number of inquiries were made with my office,” Hatzistergos said in response.
“The Director General of my department discussed the matter with the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages and a decision was reached for legal advice to be obtained.
“I did not speak to the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. At no time did I or … anyone in my office make any direction to the registrar in relation to the decision that he took.”
Sex And Gender Education’s Dr Tracie O’Keefe said they would continue to support norrie’s obtaining a “sex not specified” legal identity through the courts.
The Registry has stopped short of demanding norrie return the certificate and recently issued norrie a change of name certificate with “sex not stated” on it.
Certificates marked “sex not stated” are provided to transsexuals who are undertaking a change of sex process — which norrie is not.
As a result, norrie has been left in limbo as to what norrie’s legal sex status is.
In the meantime, norrie’s case has drawn support from a surprising quarter. Family First NSW’s Dr Gordon Moyes MLC, told Sydney Star Observer, “A person like norrie who has undergone sexual alignment surgery should, as an adult, be allowed the choice of no gender.”

Norrie ready to battle with the govt - starobserver.com.au

SX cover story: Born identity

Born identity

Written by Reg Domingo | 19 March 2010

Norrie made history by becoming the first person in NSW to be recognised as neither male nor female. But, in a surprise twist, the government has reversed its decision. Inside one person’s quest to be free of labels.
It’s mid-morning on a weekday in Sydney’s CBD, the lobby of the building that houses the Australian Human Rights Commission is calm, and Norrie, the person who, until recently, was the first in the New South Wales to be officially recognised as being neither male nor female, is sitting on the plush leather seat. Flanked by a small group of supporters, Norrie is relaxed and composed. But not for long. For in a few moments, Norrie is about to front the media to bring attention to a discrimination claim with the Human Rights Commission against the NSW Attorney-General’s office. The reason? The NSW Government’s back flip which, according the Norrie, was tantamount to being “socially assassinated”.
Norrie, 48, made headlines earlier this month when the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages issued a certificate recognising Norrie as being neither a man nor a woman. The document, a Recognised Details Certificate, indicated ‘not specified’ in the ‘sex’ field, making Norrie the first person in the state to be recognised as being sex/genderless.
Upon being granted the status, Norrie was elated. “I was surprised to get the certificate,” Norrie tells SX. “I was surprised to get the call from the registry office saying, ‘We’re going to give you what you want’.” Shortly afterwards, Norrie began approaching other government agencies to have their records revised.
But that all changed on Tuesday last week when Norrie was notified by the Births, Deaths and Marriages registrar, Greg Curry, that, following legal advice, the document was now deemed invalid. Norrie believes that the decision came as a result of “pressure from the top”.
“At the time, when I was notified, I felt absolutely devastated. I felt like they’ve killed me, like I’ve been socially assassinated. Suddenly, I’ve gone from the world’s first person with a ‘sex: not specified’ status to a fraud or an error they’ve just decided.”
“I don’t know what pressure the registrar is under,” Norrie, who prefers the pronoun zie, adds. “Maybe he’s got kids to feed, maybe he can’t stand up to the people ordering him around – I can’t judge. I just know that what he’s attempting to do is wrong and whoever is trying to make him do it is wrong, and my identity is what I say it is. The world knows who I am now.”

***

Norrie was born as a male in Scotland in 1961. Growing up in the town of Paisley, Norrie recalls a childhood that was “rough as guts”.
“The kids were murdering each other on the basis of who was Protestant and who was Catholic. There was a lot of violence. I didn’t hang around a lot of the kids at all.”
It was during this early stage that Norrie began identifying as androgynous. “As a child, I didn’t really identify much as a boy or a girl. In my head, I had fantasies. Sometimes, I was Supergirl, other times I was a Superboy. I didn’t stop and think I can’t pretend I’m Supergirl because I’m not a girl, in the same way I couldn’t stop and pretend I’m not Supergirl because I’m not from Krypton. And so, in my head, I was comfortable with characters of various genders and gender roles.” In the late 60s, Norrie’s family moved to Australia.
At university, a sense of freedom allowed Norrie to embrace being androgynous. But things took a sharp turn after university, when Norrie began working in the public sector. Discriminated against for being androgynous, Norrie suffered a nervous breakdown. While doing drag shows at a local gay hotel in Perth provided a welcome distraction, Norrie decided to take the next step. “I thought, maybe I’m happier as a woman. I certainly wasn’t happy being a man.”
In 1985, at the age of 23, Norrie began the road to transition and started to take hormones. Four years later, Norrie had surgery to become a woman. But two years later, Norrie decided to stop taking hormones, in an effort to experience a more natural state of being. “I started reading about feminism and started moving away from gender stereotypes. I liked climbing trees so why on earth should my identity be something I buy in the shops in a bottle? Why shouldn’t I just be who I am? I wanted to find that out without the pills from the shop. I just wanted to be me.”
Today, Norrie identifies as neuter, that is, one who belongs to neither sex. “You should be able to have a legal identity without having to say what your sex or sexuality is. Why should your rights be limited to what sex you have or what sex your partners have? It shouldn’t matter.”

***

For Norrie, what matters now is human rights.
The complaint lodged on Thursday at the Australian Human Rights Commission alleges that, in revoking the document, the NSW Attorney-General breached the Sex Discrimination Act and the United Nations Charter of Human Rights.
“Frankly, I can’t see how it’s even legally possible,” Norrie says. “I think the Attorney General’s department has broken the law.” (The NSW Attorney-General’s Department did not return repeated calls from SX).
“The NSW government has legally issued the documents,” said Tracie O’Keefe of the lobby and advocacy group, Sex and Gender Education. “They have no business to now change Norrie’s sex status without Norrie’s consent. No government has the right to change the sex status of any person without that person’s permission. We will fight them through the courts.”
Only time will tell what will happen. But Norrie is determined to see it through to the end.
“This idea has gone out there and the world has not ended,” Norrie adds. “Some people like the idea, some are threatened by it. Someone said I had a caused an earthquake, adding: ‘Do you realise what you’ve caused society?’ Well, yes I do! I’m trying to remove unfair discrimination. I’m trying to give everyone a space to be themselves and live their life without being tied down by a label that’s unnecessary.”

Norrie photographed for SX by John McRae.

Victory for intersex rights attacked

Rachel Evans, Sydney

20 March 2010

Two weeks ago, Norrie won the right to have “non gender specific” written on zie's (non-gendered pronoun) birth certificate.

A seasoned queer and refugee rights activist, Norrie spent two months going through the process with the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, and received the welcome news the night before Mardi Gras.

At 23, Norrie undertook hormone treatments and surgery to construct a vagina, receiving a gender recognition certificate as female. Norrie later came to feel that female was not right either, so ceased taking hormones and identified as neuter.

Norrie had confirmation from two doctors that zie could not be categorised as female or male; and zie filed the doctors’ assessments with the registry. The initial positive ruling of “non gender specific” was a huge win for the intersex (historically referred to as hermaphrodite) community who identify as neither men nor women.

On March 18, Norrie said: “One in 100 people display differences to male/female binary. That's a lot of intersex people. The decision meant I can travel without a sex on my documents: I am not a man or a woman but I have aspects of both.”

The registry’s decision may have been a world first. Norrie's victory was on the front cover of the Sydney Morning Herald, and featured in media in Russia, China, and Norrie’s birthplace of Scotland. Support was overwhelming, Norrie said.

“Thousands of people have contacted me world-wide to show their support: they support it because, just as race and religion used to be part of your legal identity, so too should sex be a thing of the legal identity past”, Norrie said.

However, the conservative Labor state government stepped in, and on March 16, Norrie received a telephone call from the registry telling zie it was going to try to rescind its decision, because of pressure from higher up in the government.

“A harassing call told me that there had been a ‘legal error’, and that the former decision was invalid and the certificate would be made invalid”, Norrie said. “I was devastated by the news.”

“The decision is a breach of human rights. It's a hideously humiliating position to find myself in and makes a mockery of my human rights. I feel violated by the attorney-general's office."

Sex and Gender Education (SAGE) campaigns for sex/gender-diverse people’s rights. SAGE believes the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2009 Sex Files Report influenced the registry’s original, progressive, decision. The report recommended: “Person[s] over the age of 18 years should be able to choose to have an unspecified sex noted on documents and records.”

Debate in the intersex community has erupted. In a March 17 Sydney Star Observer article, Gina Wilson from OII Australia (part of the international intersex organisation) wrote: “We think having ‘not specified’ on a child’s birth certificate will add to their burden.

“If this were a non-prejudiced society, it would be fair enough — but it’s not. Children struggle enough with a non-conforming body and the issues around that without having to struggle with a document that declares that to anybody who sees it.”

Wilson argued “it was adequate for parents to give intersex children unisex names and a temporary gender designation for documents as male or female until they are old enough to decide for themselves.”

In response to the registry’s back flip, Norrie, joined by SAGE, NSW Greens leader Lee Rhiannon, Community Action Against Homophobia, the Socialist Alliance and 15 other activists lodged a complaint on March 18 at the Human Rights Commission.

On March 18, ABC Online said attorney-general John Hatzistergos had denied he was behind the registry’s decision, when questioned by Rhiannon in parliament. But his director-general had discussed the matter with the registrar, and they’d decided to obtain legal advice.

Hatzistergos said: “Advice from the Crown solicitor is that the registrar may only issue a recognised details certificate or new birth certificate following a change of sex in either male or female gender.”

Norrie and supporters pledged to continue the fight for the “non gender specific” status.

Andalusia Gender Identity, Kim Perez, considers it necessary to establish a neutral sexual gender

She has stated that this case notes that there are men, women and intersexed people, "but the laws have attempted to deny it," so now different partnerships aim to eliminate the sex of personal documents, such as in Spain where there is no difference in rights between different sexes.

The Association of Andalusia Gender Identity, Kim Perez, considers it necessary to establish a neutral sexual gender in Spain

This would include "about 10 percent of the population", for those who do not feel "comfortable "as male or female.

Perez noted in an interview with Efe that the British case of Norrie May-Welby, whom Australian authorities have granted the neutral gender, is "a recognition of a reality that is in all nations and all times".

She has stated that this case notes that there are men, women and intersexed people, "but the laws have attempted to deny it," so now different partnerships aim to eliminate the sex of personal documents, such as in Spain where there is no difference in rights between different sexes.

It considers that the Government should withdraw this aspect of the documents because there can be no "coding that forces people to be men or women". "Society is not used to acknowledging that we exist" added Perez, who hopes that eventually "there will be recognition of the fact that you can not hide", even if you have to accept "mockery, surprise or indignation".

She explained that for a long time "there has been censorship and inquisition" that has forced these people to hide, so that now "society will react with a huge surprise."

Perez said that it is nature "that makes people transgender or intersexual, which is normally discovered during the first insertion at school, where they see that they are not happy neither with one nor the other," so little by little you'll discover yourself, because nobody speaks of the intersexed.

Kim Perez has told EFE that the evolution in Spain in recent years "has been enormous and is a vanguard" which is moving towards a free society, and made reference to the important movement of associations, such as grenadine "fuzzy sets", which argues that there is "a very wide and natural range," where there are men, women, transgender and intersexual.

Australian government withdraws non-specified gender status

By Jane Fae • March 19, 2010 - 14:32

Norrie mAy-welby was devastated at losing hir no-gender certificate

1 Comment on Australian government withdraws non-specified gender status

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The Australian government has changed its mind about awarding a gender activist a status of "gender not specified".
Three weeks ago, Scottish-born Norrie mAy-welby achived a world first when zie was granted a Recognised Details Certificate giving hir gender as “not specified”.
Although recognised as male at birth, and later recognised, following gender reassignment, as a woman, Norrie did not feel comfortable living solely as a female.
Doctors declared zie could not be categorised as a male or female and the New South Wales registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages agreed in late February to grant the new certificate.
Neither Norrie nor the registrar were prepared for the worldwide interest which followed. On Tuesday, the registrar was back on the phone to Norrie to explain that they had made a mistake and that the certificate they had already issued was legally invalid.
This was confirmed in the NSW parliament yesterday, as NSW attorney-general John Hatzistergos announced that his office had made some inquiries about the certificate after the issue was "ventilated" in the media.
Mr Hatzistergos said: "The registrar may only issue a recognised detail certificate or a new birth certificate following a change of sex in either male or female gender".
Confusion still surrounds this decision, as Green MP Lee Rhiannon told PinkNews.co.uk today that the attorney general’s position is that NSW laws require that a person in this situation must have their sex stated as either male or female.
If this is the case, the registrar’s new certificate, which describes Norrie’s gender as “sex not stated” would also be illegal.
Norrie told AAP yesterday: "When I got the call on Tuesday I was absolutely devastated. I felt like I had been killed.
"My identity has gone all over the world … [now the] attorney-general's taking back what they sold to me."
Legal misunderstanding – or political back-covering? The NSW registrar, Greg Curry claims that Births, Deaths and Marriages were not forced to revoke the certificate.
In a statement issued this week, he said: "At no time did the registrar state or imply that the attorney-general or anyone else had 'pressured' him to cancel the certificate".
There are in fact two key issues at stake here. The first is the right of an individual not to be defined in state or other documentation by a gender they do not identify with. The second, more radical step, is to recognise a third way – a gender that is neither male nor female.
Speaking to PinkNews.co.uk, Norrie was clear that zie was campaigning for the first of these rights. Zie said: “I am not seeking to be recognised as without gender. Rather, I am looking for the state to recognise that who I am cannot be contained within the simple gender labels of either male or female.
"Depending on how one looks at it, biologically or behaviourally, I am either neither gender or a bit of both.”
Essentially, this argument as about what should be entered on legal documents. The NSW government appears to believe that it is not permitted in law to state anything other than male or female.
Lee Rhiannon, a Green MP in the NSW Upper House said: "The NSW government should act to implement a key recommendation of a 2009 Human Rights Commission report that a person over 18 should be able to choose to have an unspecified sex noted on documents and records."
This references a report – The Sex Files – issued last year by the Australian Human Rights Commission, which addressed the legal recognition of sex in documents and government records.
Ms Rhiannon continued: "If there is a problem with the law that stops the Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages from issuing such a certificate, the compassionate thing is for the NSW government to change the law to support Norrie and others in a similar situation.”
Jane Fae also writes at janefae.wordpress.com

NSW Parliament questions about Norrie

from Hansard Thursday 18 march 2010

BIRTH CERTIFICATE SEX CLASSIFICATION

Ms LEE RHIANNON: I direct my question without notice to the Attorney General. Considering Norrie, an individual who doctors agree cannot be categorised as male or female, was given a certificate from the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages that listed Norrie's sex as "not specified" and considering that Norrie has since received a letter on 16 March from the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages stating that it did not have the power to issue certificates showing "not specified" in the sex field, will the Attorney publicly release the legal advice upon which this decision was made? What was the date of the legal advice? Was this legal advice sought before or after extensive media coverage of Norrie's case and if there is a problem with New South Wales laws that preclude Norrie being specified as "sex not specified", will the Attorney act to reform these laws, thereby implementing recommendation 5 of the March 2009 Human Rights Commission Report entitled "The Sex Files" that recommends a person over the age of 18 years should be able to choose to have an unspecified sex noted on documents and records?

The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: I am very proud of the fact that I sponsored and introduced into this House the Courts and Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill, which amended the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act to enable people who were resident in New South Wales but were born overseas and had a sex affirmation procedure to obtain legal recognition of their change of sex. That was legislation that I sponsored into this Parliament and which was passed. It has enabled people who were born overseas to have a sex affirmation procedure, to have it registered and to have a relevant identification document. They can then use that document when applying for passports, having medical treatment, and dealing with police, emergency care workers and hospital staff, seeking emergency accommodation or Centrelink benefits and representations to financial institutions and insurance companies.

This issue was ventilated in the media and a number of inquiries were made with my office. I can advise that my office sought further information in relation to the matter the member has raised. Following those inquiries being made, the director general of my department discussed the matter with the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages and a decision was reached for legal advice to be obtained in relation to the matter. My office was advised of that legal advice, as I understand it, on Monday. The registrar then rang Norrie and advised him of the decision which the member has referred to. I did not speak to the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. At no time did I or, I am advised, anyone in my office make any direction to the registrar in relation to the decision that he took. This was made clear in advice from the registry, which states:

Advice received from the Crown Solicitor is that the registrar may only issue a recognised detail certificate or a new birth certificate following a change of sex in either male or female gender. The registrar accepts this advice and has directed that any applications for recognised detail certificates or changes of sex comply with this advice.

In relation to the certificate already issued to Norrie, I am advised that the registrar could request a return of the certificate under section 59 (3) (d) of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act since it was issued in error, but has determined in the circumstances that he does not propose to take this action, although he has advised Norrie that the certificate is invalid. I am not aware of any jurisdiction in Australia that, at the moment, captures the specific issue the member has raised. I would need to obtain further advice as to the policy issues and the impact of any change of policy. Ultimately any decision to enact a change to the legislation to facilitate that to occur would require the concurrence of the Parliament.

Gendered world

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2010/2850199.htm

Gendered world

listen now | download audio

We live in a world defined by gender, so identifying yourself as non gender specific is one-hell of a journey. But that is the journey Norrie May Welby has embarked upon. Norrie was the first person to be officially recognised in New South Wales as neither man nor woman. This month Norrie was granted a 'sex not specified' certificate by the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages but this week the certificate was cancelled leading to considerable confusion and anger.

Gender Bender laps up zer attention!

http://www.paisleydailyexpress.co.uk/renfrewshire-news/2010/03/18/gender-bender-laps-up-zer-attention-87085-26054126/

Gender Bender laps up zer attention!

Mar 18 2010 by Andy Newport, Paisley Daily Express

THE gender-bender Buddie who has become the first person ever to be officially recognised as neither male nor female has revealed they LOVE the Paisley Daily Express!
Paisley-born Norrie May-Welby, 48, hit the headlines after she or he – Norrie prefers the term zie – was granted the classification “Person of No Specific Gender” by Australian officials.
The story quickly spread round the world and Norrie – who had a sex change op at 28 but decided zie didn’t want to live as a woman – has been lapping up the attention.
Now living in Sydney, Norrie’s Facebook site has been bombarded with messages of congratulation from supporters.
Zie even used the site to express delight after every Buddies’ favourite paper picked on zer – another gender-neutral pronoun zie likes to use – bizzare tale.
Posting a link to our story, which carried the headline ‘Gender-bender Buddie gets what zie wants’, Norrie said: “I’ll never live this down!
“‘Buddie’ is the term for a Paisley local or apparently anyone born there. Beats the ‘Scot Ex-Pat’ label. And I’m LOVING the gender-neutral pronoun in the headline!”
Norrie – who emigrated to Australia at the age of seven – entered the world as a man but had a sex change operation in 1990. However, after becoming unhappy living as a woman, Norrie decided to become a ‘neuter’.
The former prostitute is now officially recognised as a person of no specific gender.

AG backtracks on gender ruling

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/ag-backtracks-on-gender-ruling-20100318-qifp.html?autostart=1

AG backtracks on gender ruling

JOEL GIBSON

March 19, 2010

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Norrie, NSW first official neuter

Norrie has become the first person in NSW to be listed as 'Sex not specified'.

THE case of the state's first genderless citizen has forced the equivalent of a bureaucratic sex change on the government.
It has revoked an official document issued last month to an androgynous Sydneysider called Norrie whose sex was listed as genderless.
Sydney's most famous gender-ender made the news from London to Beijing last week when the Herald revealed that the government had for the first time issued a registered details certificate and a change of name certificate saying ''sex: not specified''.

Androgynous . . . Norrie is the first person in NSW to be officially recognised as neither man nor woman by the state. Photo: Wolter Peeters

But Norrie received a phone call on Tuesday from the Births, Deaths and Marriages registrar Greg Curry, who said he had legal advice the document was invalid.
In Parliament yesterday, the Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, said the media coverage had prompted many inquiries. Mr Curry and the director-general of the Attorney-General's Department, Laurie Glanfield, sought advice from the Solicitor-General.
The registry refused to release the full advice, but said it concluded the registrar did not have the power to issue certificates with the sex recorded as anything other than male or female.
The 48-year-old from Redfern has since received a replacement change of name certificate that says ''sex: not stated'' - which a spokeswoman said was standard for such documents - and offering a fee refund of about $100.
Norrie, who recently jettisoned the surname ''May-Welby'', felt ''violated'' by the bureaucratic reassignment and filed a discrimination claim yesterday with the Human Rights Commission.
''I think it's really funny that these bean-counters think there's a difference between 'not specified' and 'not stated'. We are beyond Monty Python now,'' Norrie said yesterday.
The issue came to a head because the government, which recently amended the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act to allow for sex changes in foreign-born citizens, did not consider that anyone might want their sex to be unrecorded.
Norrie was registered as male at birth, began hormone treatment at 23 and had surgery to become a woman - but has since ceased taking hormones and identifies as neither sex.
The Greens are now calling for reforms to allow sexless documentation for adults, which was a recommendation in a Human Rights Commission report last year.

Norrie backflip ‘a breach of rights’

http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/2010/03/18/norrie-backflip-a-breach-of-rights/22950

Norrie backflip ‘a breach of rights’

Category:: News
Author:: Andrew M Potts
Posted:: Thursday, 18 March 2010

Activist norrie mAy-welby has lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) after the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages backflipped on issuing norrie with a recognised details certificate with “sex not specified” written on it.

Norrie and the Sex And Gender Education (SAGE) lobby group believe the backflip is a breach of norrie’s rights under both the Australian Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and the United Nations Charter of Human Rights which protects a person’s right to self-determine their own social identity.
Norrie received the certificate, signed by the NSW Registrar, the day before the Mardi Gras parade. In the week after norrie went public, the story received both national and international attention, being picked up by news services as far away as Russia, China, and norrie’s birthplace of Scotland.
Norrie received a phone call from a representative of NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages on Tuesday, telling norrie the certificate would be cancelled.
Norrie claims this person revealed the backflip had come as a result of NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages being pressured by the NSW Attorney General’s Office.
Norrie then received a letter on Wednesday confirming the Registry would move to cancel the certificate.
Norrie lodged the complaint this morning at the Human Rights Commission’s Sydney headquarters, accompanied by a band of supporters and SAGE’s Dr. Tracie O’Keefe.
Also present was NSW Greens leader Lee Rhiannon who pledged to question the NSW Government in Parliament later today.
“I am devastated by the news. It is a hideous, humiliating position to find myself in and makes a mockery of my human rights,” norrie told waiting news media.
“I feel I have been completely violated by the Attorney General’s Office … I have no doubt [this] is politically motivated.”
SAGE’s Dr. Tracie O’Keefe said her organisation would continue to support Norrie in obtaining a “sex not specified” legal identity through the courts.

Norrie's 'ungendered' status withdrawn

By Chi Tranter, AAP March 18, 2010, 5:48 pm

Norrie, who famously became the first person in the world deemed neither male nor female, has now had the certificate confirming the gender-neutral status withdrawn.
NSW's Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages deemed invalid the certificate it issued on February 25 which established the 48-year-old's sex as "non specified".
It says it cancelled Norrie's "recognised details certificate" after receiving legal advice it was invalid.
"When I got the call on Tuesday I was absolutely devastated. I felt like I had been killed," Norrie told AAP on Thursday.
"My identity has gone all over the world ... (now the) attorney-general's taking back what they sold to me.
"If I sell you something by mistake ... I can't say: `Oh no, I have re-thought that. I didn't mean to do that.' I can't take it back off you."
Norrie, who only uses one name, wants to know why the registry didn't seek legal advice before issuing the certificate.
"Three weeks after they issued it and I go public ... somehow they get legal advice telling them they didn't have the right to issue it in the first place," Norrie said.
NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos told parliament on Thursday his office made some inquiries about the certificate after the issue was "ventilated" in the media.
He said legal advice provided to the registry said "the registrar may only issue a recognised detail certificate or a new birth certificate following a change of sex in either male or female gender".
Norrie was registered as male at birth, began hormone treatment at 23 and had surgery to become a woman, but then stopped taking hormones, preferring to live as neither male nor female.
After receiving the ungendered certificate, Norrie visited the bank, Centrelink and the Roads and Traffic Authority to update their details.
"They all said they didn't know how to put it (gender unspecified) into their computers, but they all agreed to do it and to have a word to their computer programmers," Norrie said.
"It is the job of the system to fit the people it serves, not the job of the people to fit the system.
"I would like to see the Attorney-General's Department apologise for harassing me."
NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has called on Mr Hatzistergos to reform the laws.
"If NSW laws prohibit Norrie and other gender-diverse people having their status recognised, the NSW government should act to change these laws," she said in a statement.
Ms Rhiannon said a 2009 Human Rights Commission report recommended people over 18 should be able to choose to have an unspecified sex, and NSW's laws should reflect the recommendation.
NSW Registrar Greg Curry denies Mr Hatzistergos forced Births, Deaths and Marriages to revoke the certificate.
"At no time did the registrar state or imply that the attorney-general or anyone else had `pressured' him to cancel the certificate," he said in a statement.

I who may well be...

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

the most famous androgynous freak in the world

Sunday, March 28, 2010

By Kalil Cohen | The Progressive Media Project

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Norrie ready to battle with the govt

Monday, March 22, 2010

SX cover story: Born identity

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Victory for intersex rights attacked

Andalusia Gender Identity, Kim Perez, considers it necessary to establish a neutral sexual gender

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Australian government withdraws non-specified gender status

Friday, March 19, 2010

NSW Parliament questions about Norrie

Gendered world

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2010/2850199.htm

Gendered world

Gender Bender laps up zer attention!

http://www.paisleydailyexpress.co.uk/renfrewshire-news/2010/03/18/gender-bender-laps-up-zer-attention-87085-26054126/

Gender Bender laps up zer attention!

AG backtracks on gender ruling

AG backtracks on gender ruling

JOEL GIBSON

Norrie, NSW first official neuter

Norrie backflip ‘a breach of rights’

Norrie backflip ‘a breach of rights’

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Norrie's 'ungendered' status withdrawn

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