Canadian parent wins right to unassigned gender for child
Image: Photo: Facebook / Kori Doty.
A TRANS parent in Canada has won the right to have their child’s gender officially unassigned.
Kori Doty’s child Searyl has been allowed to have a health care card with gender marked as U for unassigned instead of the traditional M or F, ABC News has reported.
Authorities have refused to issue a birth certificate similarly reflecting no assigned gender for the child.
Doty said they had been campaigning for the decision for some time along with other trans activists.
“I’m a trans person and was raised within one particular gender and years later found that wasn’t really what suited me best,” they said.
“I wanted to be able to hold the space for my kid to explore who they were without all of the baggage that comes with the boy box and girl box.”
Doty said the decision is the first step in a larger push for gender neutrality.
“I’ve been involved with a case which is ongoing through the Human Rights Tribunal here in DC with eight other folks and also an organisation that represents all trans people in DC,” they said.
“We’ve been asking for birth certificates without a gender marker since 2015. So it was a very natural step for me to first of all try and have Searyl joined in as a part of that.”
Doty said they hoped the decision would help their child to make decisions about their gender without social pressure.
“I hope that it means they feel more supported to explore whoever they are, regardless of how that pertains to binary expectations,” they said.
“They’re a very, very happy kid who is very supported.”
Doty’s battle to have Searyl’s identity documents issued without an assigned gender has made headlines recently.
Earlier this week, Doty reprimanded Piers Morgan on television for asking invasive questions about their gender and genitals while discussing the issue.
Interesting stuff. It will rile the conservatives but it’s certainly been my experience in life that boys who are brought up to “be boys”, sent to boys’ schools etc are decidedly more inclined to grow into violence, depression and drugs than boys who are brought up without particular gender roles and who are just as free to choose “girl” toys and activities and who find more balance in the process.
And on Piers Morgan, I was reminded last night of an old Stephen Fry joke that the word “countryside” has been given a new definition – it’s what happens when someone murders Piers Morgan!