Sydney man becomes first officially androgynous person

A Sydney man has
succeeded in having “sex not specified” placed on his government records —
which seems to make him the first officially androgynous adult in Australia. Norrie,
a 48-year-old who was born in Scotland, uses only his first name. At 23 he
started hormone treatment to become a woman and subsequently had gender
reassignment surgery. But now he (he prefers the pronoun “zie”) has stopped
taking hormones, preferring to live as neither male nor female.  “It’s not a
detail I think should be part of my identity,” he said.

The law of the state
of New South Wales had not contemplated the possibility of having neither sex
on official documents. However, two registered doctors certified that Norrie is
physically and psychologically androgynous and the authorities obliged. Norrie
is now visiting various institutions to have the sex changed on his documents. ”I
went into the bank and the woman’s eyes lit up when she saw the certificate,
and she said, ‘What a good option’,” Norrie told the Sydney Morning Herald. ~ SMH,
Mar 12

Michael Cook
gender
gender reassignment

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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