News In Focus
15 March 2010
Person wins official recognition of gender neutrality
A Paisley-born Scot has won the right to be recorded as neither male nor female by the authorities in New South Wales, where they now live.
Norrie May-Welby (48) was born a man but had a sex-change operation about 20 years ago. Several years later May-Welby stopped taking female hormone pills, and doctors have now decided that they are unable to determine whether May-Welby's body is male or female.
The authorities have now created a genderless option on all official documents and issued May-Welby a birth certificate that says "sex not specified".
In 2009 the Australian Human Rights Commission recommended a greater scope of legal recognition beyond male and female for some individuals.
May-Welby said: "I've never felt completely male or female except for a brief period in early transition when I first identified as a transsexual".
They added that the new move would make life easier when checking into airports or filling in forms.