Intersex pondered as gender category
February 18, 2013
Noel Towell, Chief Assembly Reporterhttp://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/intersex-pondered-as-gender-category-20130217-2elmr.htmlACT birth certificates could soon recognise transgender and intersex people. As well, another category, ''indeterminate'', is also being considered.
The territory government is considering changes to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act that would add to the traditional gender categories.
The changes have been recommended to the government by its Law Reform Advisory Council and will be considered by cabinet in the coming weeks.
In its report ''Beyond the Binary: Legal Recognition of Sex and Gender Diversity in the ACT'', the council also calls for an end to the requirement for sex-change surgery before a person can change their gender on a birth certificate.
''It is the view of the council that to give legal recognition to intersex people, the available categories for the registration of a person's sex should be any of female, male, intersex and indeterminate,'' the report reads.
The council was scathing of the present rules governing the alteration of birth certificates.