High Court to rule on Norrie's fight for gender-neutral recognition


The High Court will rule today on whether New South Wales law recognises genders other than male or female.

The case was sparked by an application from Sydney resident Norrie who wants to be registered as of non-specific sex.

Norrie was born a male in Scotland and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1989, and now identifies as neither male nor female.

In 2010, Norrie applied for a name change and to be registered as being of non-specific sex.

The NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages agreed at first, but then the decision was revoked.

Norrie was told it was beyond the power of the law to recognise options other than male or female.

Norrie challenged the decision and last year the NSW Court of Appeal found the existing law could recognise additional options.

But the registrar went to the High Court in a bid to have that decision overturned.

It told the High Court the law limits registration to male or female and Norrie must choose.

But Norrie's lawyers told the court, that would maintain a fiction and assign Norrie to a sex to which Norrie does not belong.

The High Court has also allowed the group A Gender Agenda to make submissions in the case.

The group is concerned Norrie’s case is too narrow, and has warned the court to consider the language it uses in its decision carefully so any change to the law would not cut out others affected by the situation.

Lawyers for the group say ‘unspecified’ or ‘not stated’ would be preferable terms to those put forward by Norrie.

The High Court has heard the category should be available to a wide range of people from those who identify themselves differently to others affected biologically.

The ACT recently passed a new law recognising a category other than male or female, and is the only jurisdiction to legally recognise a third option.

However Commonwealth guidelines do recognise a third category, including on passports.

The case is being watched carefully by the other states which could be affected by the decision.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-02/high-court-to-rule-on-norrie-gender-neutra...


Should gender neutral Australians be able to marry male or female partners?

Armchair_Politician wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2014 at 7:43am:



Take your gender neutral phobia and stick it where the sun don't shine.

Armchair_Politician wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2014 at 7:43am:


Exactly....

So whats next greeny? After people start denying the reality of what sex they are, can people start denying to be of the human species as well? Will all government forms have a list of text boxes allowing for people to pick and choose sex (as well as nonspecific of course), species, and everything else as well?

I actually welcome this kind of shlt getting to court. It is now only a matter of time before many of the self declared open minded and tolerant people finally hit back and say this idiocy must end. There is in reality only a handful of total no hopers left in this country that actually believe and push for this rubbish. More and more are coming to realize how futile the progressive mind frame is.

I've always said homosexuality is a mental health issue that needs to be address. this just proves my point.

In what’s being described as a “turning point in the way that intersex people in Australia are seen and treated,” Senators from the three major political parties discussed intersex health issues in Federal Parliament this week.

“We have long fought for our voices to be heard, so to have the Australian Parliament acknowledge our existence and our issues is vital,” says Tony Briffa, who in 2011 became the world’s first out intersex Mayor.

“Today heralds a moment in our movement where our politicians were united in expressing great concern about the current paradigm. It’s not ok to pathologise us.”

The Senate’s attention makes history at a time when many Australians still don’t know what being ‘Intersex’ actually means. ‘Intersex’ describes a person whose biological sex is ambiguous. There are many genetic, hormonal or anatomical variations that may lead to this.

“Being intersex is not about gender identities or presentations, or sexual orientation,” explains Morgan Carpenter, (pictured with Briffa above), the president of Organisation Intersex Australia.

“Intersex people identify as female, male, both, and all sorts of identities between the binary. It’s a lived experience.”

Intersex infants are sometimes operated on shortly after birth in an effort to ‘normalise’ their gender, but this practice has become increasingly controversial, as intersex adults are now speaking up against it.

The involuntary and coerced medical treatment of intersex people as infants happens without the individuals’ consent and is a human rights issue, agree

“We recommended that certainly nothing should happen to a child with intersex attributes until they were old enough to be involved in making a decision themselves,” commented Boyce.


http://www.samesame.com.au/news/10741/Senators-speak-up-on-rights-for-intersex-A...


Oh look, the  lib lab parties are confronting the fact that the human race is more diverse than some here believe it to be.

Im not sure having a gender that is not of natural doing is worth spending money on. The courts should not have taken this on and said choose one, you have wasted enough of other peoples money.

BlOoDy RiPpEr wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2014 at 8:51am:



While I find this story quite strange, like most others here do, there's no mention of homosexuality in the OP.

There's no mention of which sex Norrie is attracted to.