A huge leap in the rights of gender non-binary Oregonians has been made, and nobody is talking about it! On June 10, an Oregon judge ruled that Jamie Shupe may legally change their gender from female to non-binary.
While several states allow citizens to leave their gender off of documents like government IDs, this is the first instance in the United States of a state allowing someone to list something other than male or female on their official legal documents. Several countries like Australia
have offered a third option for gender on official documents for years, but America has been sadly behind the times on this issue.This is a huge step for gender non-binary Oregonians, and hopefully a push in the right direction for other states. Limiting one's options at the state or federal level to "male" or "female" is a very clear way of saying that other genders don't exist in the eyes of the law.
For those of us who fall outside the gender binary, this is extremely painful and invalidating. It's death by a thousand cuts. Oregon is now the first state to legally recognize a third option for gender. As a born and raised Oregonian, I am absolutely elated by this development. Now, it isn't as easy as walking in and saying that you want to change your legal gender. While Oregon does not require a doctor's note, it does require that the court determine you have gone through sufficient surgical, hormonal, or other transitions before it will grant a legal change. This is not ideal for those of us who identify outside the gender binary but do not wish to make surgical or hormonal changes to our body; however, it is a step in the right direction. For now, I can simply say congratulations to Jamie, that I am proud to be an Oregonian and that I hope other states will follow Oregon's example on this front.
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