Monday 3 July 2017

Newborn baby may be the first to be registered ‘gender unknown’ because its parent insists only the tot can decide what sex it wants to be

A mother who identifies as a “non-binary trans person” is demanding their baby’s birth certificate be the world’s first to be marked gender “unknown.”

Canadian Kori Doty, who has a moustache and claims to be neither male or female, is fighting to keep eight-month-old child Searyl Atli’s gender off government records.


Doty, who prefers to be referred to as “they” rather than “he” or “she”, told CBC they are “raising Searyl in such a way that until they have the sense of self and command of vocabulary to tell me who they are.”

They added: “I’m recognising them as a baby and trying to give them all the love and support to be the most whole person that they can be outside of the restrictions that come with the boy box and the girl box.”

The unconventional mum is trying to get British Columbia to issue the child with a birth certificate which does not have a gender marker.

But while the Canadian province has sent the baby health cards with an “undetermined” gender, authorities have refused to issue the certificate.

Doty’s lawyer says BC only issues birth documents which have a male or female designation.

And while another Canadian province, Ontario, says it is reviewing its policies to include non-binary genders, critics claims such children could be become a target for bullies or discrimination.

The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal is helping Doty fight to get all government documents to accommodate non-gendered people.

Doty said: “When I was born, doctors looked at my genitals and made assumptions about who I would be, and those assignments followed me and followed my identification throughout my life.
“Those assumptions were incorrect, and I ended up having to do a lot of adjustments since then.”

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