Oregon court allows a person to choose neither sex

Foster Noone identifies as a nonbinary person

A judge in Oregon has granted a petition allowing a person to legally choose neither sex and be classified as nonbinary: an important development for transgender Americans while civil rights and sexual identity are in the national spotlight, advocates and legal experts said. Though the petition was granted with little fanfare in a two-paragraph decision on Friday, the experts said that, to their knowledge, the ruling was the first of its kind in the country.
Kris Hayashi, executive director of the Transgender Law Center in Oakland, Calif., described the decision in an email as a “historic step” toward the government’s recognizing “nonbinary members of our community and ensuring they have access to identity documents that reflect who they are, just like everyone else.”
Oregon law does not specifically limit gender choices to male or female. For decades, the legal process for a change of sex has been similar to the process for changing a name, Mr. Perriguey said. A petitioner can submit the paperwork and pay the filing fee, and a notice of the proposed change is posted for 14 days. A judge can approve a change of sex if it is determined that the person has undergone surgical, hormonal or other treatment appropriate for them, according to the law. Judge Holmes Hehn’s ruling could help call attention to other issues, such as gender-neutral bathrooms, advocates said. North Carolina, for example, enacted a law that bars transgender people from using public bathrooms that do not match the sex on their birth certificates. That drew intense criticism and prompted many businesses and entertainers to boycott the state.