Australia's Top Court Recognizes 'Gender Neutral' Sex Category, Third Gender Legal Now

Concluding a long legal battle by a sexual equality campaigner, a person can now be legally recognized as gender neutral as opposed to male or female, Australia's highest court ruled on Wednesday.

According to Agence France-Presse, "The High Court recognizes that a person may be neither male nor female, and so permits the registration of a person's sex as 'non-specific'," it said in a unanimous judgment, dismissing a New South Wales state appeal to recognize only men or women.

Norrie, who uses only a single name and does not identify as either male or female, was the central focus of the case as he was legally battling the formation of a gender-neutral category.

Norrie was born a male. Undergoing gender assignment surgery in 1989, he was hoping to become a female, AFP reported.

However, Scottish-born Norrie's ambiguity of sexual identity was not resolved through the surgery. Following this, Norrie pushed for the recognition of a new, non-traditional gender.

"The campaigner made global headlines in February 2010 when an application to the NSW Department of Births, Deaths and Marriages accepted that 'sex non-specific' could be accepted for Norrie's records," AFP reported. "But soon afterwards the office revoked its decision, saying the certificate was invalid and had been issued in error. At the time, Norrie said the decision felt like being 'socially assassinated.'"

"That sparked a series of appeals which resulted in the NSW Court of Appeal recognizing Norrie as gender neutral last year, a decision which the High Court backed on Wednesday," AFP added.

"Norrie's sex remained ambiguous so that it would be to record misinformation in the register to classify her as male or female," the judgment said.

Accepting a non-specific sex category is not a problem to most people, Norrie told AFP.

"People seem to be able to accommodate the truth," the Sydney resident said. "I'm not the first person like this in society, I'm the one that happened to put my hand up for this particular case - I stand on the shoulders of giants."

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