Oregon Judge allows "non-binary" sex option

 photo shupe_zpsvu2brmgw.jpgMultnomah County Circuit Court Judge Amy Holmes Hehn ruled Friday that Jamie Shupe's legal sex would be changed from female to non-binary.

It's really exciting for the courts to actually recognize what we know to be true: gender is a spectrum. Some people don't identify as male or female.

--Nancy Hacque, Basic Rights Oregon

Shupe, an Army veteran who retired in 2000 a sergeant first class, began transitioning in 2013 while living in Pittsburg. Shupe knew then that neither male nor female fit. Shupe chose "Jamie" as a new first name primarily because it is a gender-neutral name. Shupe prefers to be called "Jamie," rather than by a pronoun.

I was assigned male at birth due to biology. I'm stuck with that for life. My gender identity is definitely feminine. My gender identity has never been male, but I feel like I have to own up to my male biology. Being non-binary allows me to do that. I'm a mixture of both. I consider myself as a third sex.

--Shupe

Female or male were the only legal options Shupe saw then. Shupe chose female, but female never felt right. In April, Shupe and lawyer Lake Perriguey filed a petition with the Oregon court to legally change Shupe's sex (to non-binary).

Oregon law allows a court to change a person's legal sex if a judge determines the person has undergone surgical, hormonal or other treatment related to a gender transition. The law does not require a note from a doctor.

Shupe brought letters from Oregon Health & Science University, as well as the Veterans Affairs hospital, anyway.

The sexual reassignment has been completed. No person has shown cause why the requested General Judgment should not be granted.

--Judge Hehn

A growing number of countries already recognize nonbinary genders, but as far as we know this is the first ruling of its kind in the U.S. Other states and agencies should consider following suit to ensure that nonbinary members of our community have access to identity documents that reflect who they are, just like everyone else.

--Ilona Turner, Transgender Law Center

But, Haque said, there is still work to be done. Basic Rights Oregon is working with "public and private systems" across the state to offer people designations beyond male or female. Oregonians cannot list "non-binary" on a driver's license or state-issued identification card, for instance. Others have been denied medical services, Haque said, because their gender identities don't conform to existing norms.

It's a huge barrier to being able to live your life, to having a driver license, to employment, to having records about your life, transcripts, all of those things.. In all the ways our lives are gendered in ways they frankly don't have to be, it can be a barrier for people whose identities aren't easily put in a box.

--Hacque

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PriceRip's picture

          Sometimes it's nice to be able to say, "I'm a native Oregonian!"

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Thaumlord-Exelbirth's picture

But always liked the thought of moving out there. Unlikely to happen however.

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Cachola's picture

For those who don't know: Society of the Native Oregon Born. I raised my sons in Eugene. Twenty really good years.

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Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.

we chose the right state. (We like Eugene a lot.)

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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

PriceRip's picture

          We are weird in a really good way.

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enhydra lutris's picture

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Why list gender on a state ID at all? There are not different driving rules for different genders. When I was a bartender, I never checked the gender on an ID; I checked the expiration date and the picture. What is the point of checking a gender box for an ID? The easy solution is to eliminate the gender boxes completely; not add more choices.

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PriceRip's picture

Scratch one-s head

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Bisbonian's picture

What I thought about the judge's decision.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

I'm an Oregon native since 1970!
Remember those license plates?
Haven't seen any around lately though.

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PriceRip's picture

          Raised Yellow lettering on solid Blue background. Oregon is weird, back in the day we could have plates transferred from an old to a new vehicle. There were probably some sort of restrictions, but there always seems to be a great variety of plates, with a lot of old ones mixed in, in towns east of the cascades.

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