World Male, female, or neither? Australian passports offer third gender option

[Slayer4000X2008]

SYDNEY — Australia brought in new passport rules Thursday allowing citizens to state their official gender as male, female or “x”, without having to undergo surgery as proof of a sex change.

Canberra had previously required a person whose gender was different from that of their birth to have reassignment surgery before they could change their passport to their preferred sex, and there was no “indeterminate” option.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the changes, which come into effect immediately, meant transgendered or intersex people would just need a doctor’s letter of support to get a passport in what they considered their true gender.

“Most people take for granted the ability to travel freely and without fear of discrimination,” Mr. McClelland said. “This measure will extend the same freedoms to sex and gender-diverse Australians.”

For those who select the third option, “x” will appear in the gender category in their passport.

Senator Louise Pratt, Australia’s first parliamentarian with a transgendered partner — born female but now a man — said the change was a huge step forward.

“There have been very many cases of people being detained at airports by immigration in foreign countries simply because their passports don’t reflect what they look like,” Ms. Pratt told ABC radio.

“It’s very distressing, highly inconvenient and frankly sometimes dangerous.”

The move was welcomed by the transgender and intersex community, who called for Australia’s state governments to follow suit by allowing birth certificates to also be altered without the prerequisite of surgery.


Full Story Here.

 

[FireCat]

Holy crap, So if a person isn't a man or a woman, who are they eh?
Seriously, there is no such thing as a genderless person. No matter what :nuts:

 

[phyrex1an]

So if a person isn't a man or a woman, who are they eh?

Here are some alternatives: http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Essays/marriage.html
Especially interesting is the paragraph about the Olympics. They have pretty much given up on trying to figure out what gender participants has. This despite the obvious advantages a "man" get if he participates in the "woman" competitions.

Trying to define gender from a non biological perspective is probably even harder... Adding a third alternative that means "no obvious answer" or perhaps "something else" or "not really" is an easy solution that works in most cases. Also note that the article doesn't even mention "genderless", that's something you made up yourself.

 

[FireCat]

Also note that the article doesn't even mention "genderless"

No. but it sure sounds like it was genderless.

Trying to define gender from a non biological perspective is probably even harder... Adding a third alternative that means "no obvious answer" or perhaps "something else" or "not really"
is an easy solution that works in most cases.

This condition is extremely rare. But I'm pretty sure they would choose living as either a "Male x" or a "Female x". No? . So that's what should go on their passport. Pretty simple isn't it?

 

[Slayer4000X2008]

Okay so whats going on with this is, 14% (so my teacher says) of Australians don't/can't be defined as male/female. So this option comes in for those people. If you have both male and female DNA, you can use this. If you were born one but (and this is hard to prove medically) don't feel it's what you should be, you can use this (so before a surgery).