Norrie backflip ‘a breach of rights’

Norrie backflip ‘a breach of rights’

Well-known community activist norrie mAy-welby has lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) after the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages backflipped on issuing norrie with a recognised details certificate with “sex not specified” written on it.

Norrie and the Sex And Gender Education (SAGE) lobby group believe the backflip is a breach of norrie’s rights under both the Australian Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and the United Nations Charter of Human Rights which protects a person’s right to self-determine their own social identity.

Norrie received the certificate, signed by the NSW Registrar, the day before the Mardi Gras parade. In the week after norrie went public, the story received both national and international attention, being picked up by news services as far away as Russia, China, and norrie’s birthplace of Scotland.

Norrie received a phone call from a representative of NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages on Tuesday, telling norrie the certificate would be cancelled.

Norrie claims this person revealed the backflip had come as a result of NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages being pressured by the NSW Attorney General’s Office.

Norrie then received a letter on Wednesday confirming the Registry would move to cancel the certificate.

Norrie lodged the complaint this morning at the Human Rights Commission’s Sydney headquarters, accompanied by a band of supporters and SAGE’s Dr. Tracie O’Keefe.

Also present was NSW Greens leader Lee Rhiannon who pledged to question the NSW Government in Parliament later today.

“I am devastated by the news. It is a hideous, humiliating position to find myself in and makes a mockery of my human rights,” norrie told waiting news media.

“I feel I have been completely violated by the Attorney General’s Office … I have no doubt [this] is politically motivated.”

SAGE’s Dr. Tracie O’Keefe said her organisation would continue to support Norrie in obtaining a “sex not specified” legal identity through the courts.

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16 responses to “Norrie backflip ‘a breach of rights’”

  1. Blue, thats so embarassing! The X catagory on passports has been used by INTERSEX people for quite a while now. If you didn’t know that then please report your trainers and superiors at your workplace as they show clear incompetance!

    http://www.sageaustralia.org/Papers%20&%20Docs/Papers%20&%20articles%20not%20SAGE/West%20Australian%20Newspaper%20jan%2003.pdf

    See! Now again watch Hungry Beast and look up Intersex and you’ll see that you’ve been lied to your ENTIRE life about Sex and Gender! Then follow that up with this Blue, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7689007.stm
    and then this:
    http://aebrain.blogspot.com/2008/06/bigender-and-brain.html and you’ll see just part of the SCIENCE of how peoples gender-identity has biological components. And how the current SCIENCE suggests BI-GENDER phenomena.

    And the way to fight for Human Rights especially for an oppressed and deeply closeted minority is as LOUDLY as possible to get more people alerted to these issues. From the Marches and Protests and Petitions of the Suffragettes to the Freedom Rides of Australias Aboriginal Peoples LOUD is what has worked. It even won Referenda in Australia which almost never pass! Often attention seekers who are also right and have a valid point and are fighting for equality is EXACTLY what we need!

    Blue, you are wrong on nearly every part of your comment. I don’t blame you, you were LIED to! But I just placed some facts before you which disprove the lies you’ve been told. Now you have to adapt to the knowledge of the real world and act accordingly.

    And norrie, thanks for pushing forward and raising the worlds attention to this.

  2. Props to NMW on round one of this. And FAIL to NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages on the back-flip.

    I was criticized by someone not so long ago for suggesting NMW was a pioneer. It was apparently my use of the word ‘pioneer’ that offended.

    I could be wrong, but this seems like pretty groundbreaking stuff, if you ask me.

    Thanks again to a real change-maker who’s out there walking the talk & actually doing something to make the world a better place.

  3. Blue – The fact you kept calling Norrie a “He” shows your total understanding. Once again you have proven that your another person who “thinks” they know it all. Blue and Bill I suggest you comment on the Herald Sun or Daily Telegraph website where your commens are going to be welcomed by a bunch of people like yourself who “think” they know it all.

  4. I understand the effeminate and masculine thing however if your born a gender regardless of if you cut something off or sew something on that is NOT technically changing your gender. I have been processing passports for many years and full transexuals are the only ones who have the “unknown” which I think is a bit rude prehaps choosing a more appropriate word would suffice. As for Norrie well I think he is just out for attention, I too know many people in the gay community who agree with this notion. Prehaps of Norrie chose a more appropriate way of fighting this fight he may just get the support he wants.

  5. My status is not revoked. My identity is what the world knows me to be. I do not believe the Registrar when he says his word is not to be trusted. I believe I was issued a legitimate certification and that a legal opinion is not enough to travel back in time and change it, let alone a legal opinion generated only by publicity. That is not the rule of law, it is make it up as you along, so if I play that, I’m androgynous, as I am by the court of world opinion ; )

  6. Chillisauce100 you totaly need to catch up on some of the facts too. And Bill for goodness sake listen up and learn something!

    See cause there are people Biologically BETWEEN male and female, people with XXY chromasomes, people with Androgen Insensitivity and far more.

    Including people who have something thats between standard Ovarian and Testicular tissue! And indeed they can get cancer!

    People who may or may not identify as being Male or Female Neither or Both.

    And Intersex people are 1% or more of the population! Did you not watch hungry beast either?

    And thats on top of all the rest of the Sex and Gender Diverse community including Crossdressers, drag and Transsexuals. We know some of these have clear biological aspects but we haven’t studied all the rest so we don’t know about them yet. But amongst the experts who have discovered that have discovered SEVERAL GENES are connected with Transsexual phenomena as well as cross-sexed neurology including marked differences in the Lymbic Nucleus there have been statements expecting all of Sex and Gender Diversity will have biological components!

    Thats ALL FACT and if you doubt it watch Hungry Beast and look up Intersex and the biological studies into Transsexuals.

    As for Bill your notion about prison.. we already have transgender people in prisons. And Gays and Lesbians already have sex in prisons if you weren’t aware of the possibility. But the Transgender people are often at great risl in prisons which is why some countries have already started giving them seperate prison facilities!

    Religion should have no bearing whatsoever on anyones human rights. If anyones unsure what the human rights are of Sex and Gender Diverse people look up the Yogyakarta Principles.

    And this decision is a flagrant abuse of Human Rights.

  7. Bill, this issue is not about science.

    Females cannot get testicular cancer and males cannot get ovarian cancer.

    However, it is obvious that some males are effeminate – not by choice – whether you want to believe it or not – and some females are masculine – not by choice – whether you want to believe it or not.

    The inference I take from your comment is that society should not address the needs of effeminate males and masculine females.

    There is no scientific evidence to prove the existance of god however we are expected to not insult the ideological beliefs of people who believe in the existance of gods.

  8. Bill, i take it you missed Hungry Beast this week.

    you might want to i-view it.

    For 1% of people through all human history no chromasomes and anatomy are not sufficient because they are Intersex.

    And it gets worse Bill! You’ve been lied to your whole life! Just like all the lies you were told about Gays and Lesbians.

    Cause between 2% and 10% (numbers are hard to get as most are still closeted) further of the ‘male’ labelled population both Gay Bi and Straight are Crossdressers, Bi-Gender and Genderqueer. Thats not even counting Transsexuals.

    And you’ll see that for a significant part of the population, including for a significant part of the Gay Lesbian and Bisexual population, no indeed Chromasomes and Anatomy have never been appropriate to define people.

  9. Monty

    Do you truly believe that gender is only a state of mind
    with no anatomical or genetic component. Get of your high horse for just a minute and contemplate the utter absurdity of that notion. If I honestly think I’m a werewolf ( equal parts man and wolf) should that give me the legal right to be classed as such by the government and excused from ripping people apart at full moons because that’s what werewolves do. It should according to the type of logic some people are expressing. The notion of “I believe I am therefore I actually am” when this is at odds with physical reality is ludicrous.

    Whats to stop some straight man convicted of a crime and sent to prison from claiming that he is phsycologically and emotionallly female and that he should serve his time in a womens prison hoping he can get laid every day amongst all those sex starved gals.

  10. What I can’t understand is this: in political terms, why would the State Labor Government- which is totally on the nose at the moment- backflip on an issue that is guaranteed to lose them queer votes in safe inner city Sydney seats? Who the hell are they trying to impress? Labor has taken gay votes for granted long enough. If we don’t get at least two Greens in the lower house in NSW, hopefully holding the balance of power, then something is seriously wrong.

    I know plenty of gay people find norrie too outspoken, and/or aren’t sympathetic with “her” non-specific gender status. I can’t quite imagine it myself, but that’s sort of beside the point. Everyone of non-mainstream sexuality has been publicly humiliated by this backflip and that is totally unacceptable.

  11. I cannot understand why people can be just so mean and nasty, oh yes I can, the new Premier is imposing her own Catholic Morality on others.

  12. I am utterly appalled and sickened by this U turn that the authorities have made. It constitutes a fundamental violation of Norrie’s human rights, and a cruel and systematic attempt at the erasure of not only Norrie’s identity but also the identities of other people who do not identify as, and are NOT male or female. Clearly right wing bigots like the NSW attorney general hate legal precedents that give proper recognition to minorities. Clearly they hate legal precedents that allow queer people to lead a happier life. Given their recent actions, clearly the authorities who run Australia are SELECTIVELY TRANSPHOBIC. There are a lot of people in the world including myself who are not male or female but who are forced to carry documents that bear incorrect details with regard to our gender. WE are all deeply saddened by this U turn and OUR hearts go out to Norrie.