The Scavenger reports that, in an Australian first, non-gender specific birth certificates are now being issued in New South Wales.

Sydney resident norrie mAy-Welby was reportedly issued a ‘Sex Not Specified’ Recognised Details Certificate by the New South Wales government following a campaign by the group Sex and Gender Education (SAGE).

Spokesperson for SAGE, Tracie O’Keefe, told The Scavenger the decision was an important one for sex and gender diverse Australians.

“This decision now has fundamental ramifications for neuter and intersex identified individuals in that they no longer have to be forced to live as male or female,” said O’Keefe.

“Furthermore it is an enormous legal breakthrough for the rights of intersex children whose doctors and parents are confused about their sex at births and that they could be registered as ‘Sex Not Specified’ until they decide what sex would be right for them.

“Many intersex children have been forced into male and female identities, when not medically necessary, which they later felt were incorrect, including unnecessary brutal surgery to give them stereotypical looking genitalia, often leaving them without sensation or function.”

The decision by the NSW Births Deaths and Marriages in mAy-Welby’s case is said to be because doctors were unable to determine a gender and that mAy-Welby was psychologically and medically neither male nor female.