SYDNEY: Australia has embraced a growing global trend towards acknowledging greater gender diversity with individuals now able to be referred to as “indeterminate, intersex or unspecified” on official documents rather than male or female.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said new national guidelines, which come into force on July 1, will make it simpler for people to establish or change their sex or gender in personal records held by government departments and agencies.
“We recognise individuals may identify, and be recognised within the community, as a gender other than the gender they were assigned at birth or during infancy, or as an indeterminate gender,” he said in a statement. “This should be recognised and reflected in their personal records held by departments and agencies.”
The move comes after the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2009 recommended the government consider developing national guidelines concerning the collection of sex and gender information.
The new guidelines state that “where sex and/or gender information is collected and recorded in a personal record, individuals should be given the option to select M (male), F (female) or X (Indeterminate/Intersex/Unspecified)”.
They state that sex reassignment surgery and/or hormone therapy are not pre-requisites for the recognition of a change of gender in Australian government records.
When someone requests the sex on their personal record be changed, Dreyfus said the government would accept a statement from their doctor or psychologist, a valid Australian passport (which have allowed X under sex for several years), or a state or territory birth certificate or other document which shows their preferred gender status.
“Trans-gender and intersex people in Australia face many issues trying to ensure the gender status on their personal records matches the gender they live and how they are recognised by the community,” Dreyfus said.
“These guidelines will bring about a practical improvement in the everyday lives of trans-gender, intersex and gender diverse people.” The move comes just weeks after a New South Wales ruled that sex does not just mean male or female, which suggests terms like “sex not specified” could become more prevalent.
Organisation Intersex International Australia noted that many people who were intersex, either because they have the biological attributes of both sexes or lack some of the biological attributes considered necessary to be defined as one or the other, may still identify as male or female.
Earlier this week, Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered the government to alter passports so that trans-genders no longer have to describe themselves as male or female. AFP
