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A court in Australia has ruled that a person's sex on identity documents is not limited to male or female.
I don't know if anybody not from Australia has heard about this, and I couldn't find the contemporaneous ABC writeup, but....
The NSW Supreme Court acting as court of appeal from the Administrative Disputes Tribunal has found that sex in government identity documents can be something other than just male or female (i.e. non-specified).
I thought (and hoped) at the time that such a move would perhaps help in the long-term process of people getting over their fear or lack of acceptance of anyone who doesn't fit with their gender norms.
This link from an online blog (vibewire) has information on the decision AND an interview with Norrie, who was the applicant.
http://vibewire.org/2013/06/cannot-compute-norrie-may-welbys...
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Amy
P.S. Um I've never posted anything other than comments on this site so I am just going to paste the link in via text...
As you've noticed...
...the BC publishing engine automatically turns recognisable web addresses into clickable links.
If you look at the row of little editing buttons at the top of the text entry box, you'll see a little button way off toward the right with what looks vaguely like a blue "Earth" with a little label under it. This brings up a dialogue box with which you can create a more flexible link.
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Thanks!
I am quite computer-literate but have never been involved in forums or message boards before... so the many intricacies really escapes me. So thanks for the explanation. :D
Amy
Already been done
Or a close approximation.
I've got an Irish friend who works in IT, and was employed building a patient information system for a Catholic church-run hospice in the Irish Republic. Their system has three 'sexes' - Male, Female and 'Religious' (i.e. Priests, monks and nuns.)
This will perhaps be of interest
to Brits who consider themselves to be without gender but struggle with bureaucracy, especially forms, which decree that you are either male or female.
I once applied for a bank account and gave my title as 'Doctor'. The bank didn't ask whether I was a medical or academic doctor (I am neither) nor did they ask for my gender. That bank has since gone out of business; I wonder why?
S.
What About My Star Sign?
I hope it'll slowly go the same way as the boxes that asked you for your marital status and - in the name of Equality and Diversity, because we have to be right-on about this stuff - your ethnic background and sexual orientation. To which the answers are of course 'none of your business'.
I'm always tempted to scrawl 'Where's the box that asks me for my star sign? That's important too, you know!'
A bureaucrat's nightmare!
*giggle* that's a good idea... but it'd be rather awkward for the data entry people to look down such a long line of choices, I guess that's part of why we only have our two acceptable choices?
Anyway, it'd also get awkward having a cursory glance at hospital records with my star sign of Cancer being the only relevant box ticked?
Amy
Yes, But Mercury Is In Retrograde!
I have no idea what that means, but someone told me that the other day and seemed to think it was important.
A mercurial comment
I had to really strain to think how mercury thermometers could be retrograde....
and then I remembered we were talking about astrology.
*derp?*
Amy