Health officials in Washington state are considering a new policy that would give people the option to change the sex on their birth certificate to a third, nongendered designation.
If a proposed rule change is adopted, adults — and minors with parental permission — could apply to change their sex designation to “X” instead of male or female. The proposed language defines X as “a gender that is not exclusively male or female, including, but not limited to, intersex, agender, amalgagender, androgynous, bigender, demigender, female-to-male, genderfluid, genderqueer, male-to-female, neutrois, nonbinary, pangender, third sex, transgender, transsexual, Two Spirit and unspecified.”
Parents wishing to change their child’s sex designation would need to submit a signed statement from the child’s doctor saying the change is “consistent with the minor’s identity.” A person’s birth certificate could only be changed after it is completed at the time of birth with a male or female sex designation.
Supporters of the proposal told Seattle’s KING5 news that allowing a non-gendered sex designation would acknowledge the people who say they don’t fit the mold of male or female. Opponents say it would threaten Washington’s vital health records system and that male and female are the only biologically sound sex designations.
