BBC: Canadian baby ‘first without gender designation’ on health card
An eight-month old Canadian baby has been issued a health card without a gender marker, in what could be the first case in the world.
Parent Kori Doty – a non-binary transgender person who identifies as neither male nor female – aims to allow the child to discover their own gender.
The health card has been issued with a “U” in the space for “sex”, which could be for “undetermined” or “unassigned”.
Kori Doty is fighting to omit the gender from the birth certificate.
The parent gave birth to Searyl Atli in November at a friend’s home in British Columbia. Kori Doty, who prefers to use the pronoun they, argues that a visual inspection at birth is unable to determine what gender that person will have or identify with later in life.
The family’s lawyer, barbara findlay, who chooses to spell her name without capital letters, told Global News: “The assignment of sex in this culture is done when a medical person lifts up the legs and looks at the baby’s genitals. But we know that the baby’s own gender identity will not develop for some years until after they’re born.”
