NEW SOUTH WALES: "Non-specific" gender recognised

Supreme Court of New South Wales
June 17, 2013

State recognises "non-specific" gender

by Hugh Young

The Supreme Court of New South Wales has ruled that a person's gender may be recorded as "non-specific"

A person identifed as Norrie was born male in Scotland, but later undertook surgery, because they identified as "having a non specific gender identity".

Norrie applied to the NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages to change their registered name and sex. The Registrar at first approved the change of sex to "not specified" but three weeks later said the approval had been issued in error and changed the sex to "not stated". Norrie applied for review and was turned down, appealed and was turned down again.

Now after considering the law in detail, the Supreme Court of New South Wales has ruled that registration of sex is not confined to "male" or female" but may include a non-specific category.

While Norrie was born male, this legal recognition will be of value to people born with Variations of Sex Development (commonly known as "intersexed" or "hermaphrodite") and want to be officially recognised as such.