NYC Issues Second Intersex Birth Certificate!
New York City has issued its second intersex birth certificate, and the second known in the nation, to our E.D. Hida Viloria, and we are thrilled to see a government body once again acknowledging that sex comes in three categories: male, female and intersex!
This is fantastic news given the medical industrial complex’s historic and continued efforts against intersex people’s right to be recognized as who we. Just last month, pediatric urologist Dr. Clare Close did so publicly on Las Vegas Now News while opposing Nevada Bill SB 408, which seeks to ban sex reassignment surgeries on intersex infants. “We can’t even make a decision about letting transgender people use a certain bathroom. I disagree that this society is ready for a third sex,” said Dr. Close. Fortunately, former legislator Dr. Andy Eisen, testified in favor of the bill.
Whether some like it or not, intersex people have been here since the dawn of humanity and we are finally stepping out in droves and demanding to be recognized for who we are. We thank intersex activists Dana Zzyym, our Assoc. Director, for initiating the fight for non-binary gender recognition on their passport (with a groundbreaking lawsuit filed on Intersex Awareness Day 2015), and Sara Kelly Keenan, the first non-binary Californian and the recipient of the nation’s first intersex birth certificate, for their pioneering work in forcing United States government bodies to acknowledge that intersex people exist, and that biological sex is not simply male or female.
We also celebrate last weeks decision by the state of Oregon to allow residents to list their sex as “X” (representing “not specified”) instead of M or F on their driver’s licenses, and California, New York and D.C. for working to follow suit!
(Note: As stated on our E.D.’s website, the birth certificate was issued in late April. http://hidaviloria.com/i-have-an-intersex-birth-certificate/.)
That is fantastic news!!! I sent in my paperwork last week, and thought I might be #2. I guess I’ll have to settle for third place! Congratulations Hida!!!
Full Spectrum Thinking !