Non-Binary Parent from Canada Wants to Mark Baby’s Gender as Unknown

STATES CHRONICLE – A non-binary transgender parent from British Columbia, Canada is fighting that their baby should not be constrained by gender. This would be the first time in history when a baby’s gender would be marked as ‘unknown’ in their birth certificate.

The parent wants to raise the baby without gender restrictions

Kori Doty, the parent of the Searyl Atli, identifies as neither male nor female. They said that, at the time of their birth, doctors decided what gender Doty should have before they could do that, and this thing followed them for the rest of their life. The biological identification of the doctor did not coincide with Doty’s identification, so they had to make the proper adjustments.

Now, Doty doesn’t want that the same thing should happen to the baby. Therefore, no official papers should get involved in their gender marking. The parent wants to raise Searyl as genderless and, when the child is self-aware enough, they would be able to tell their parent how they identify themselves.

Doty insists that they do everything for the sake of the baby. They don’t want Searyl to grow up with restrictions and feel compelled to be either a boy or a girl. Rather, they want to encourage the child to find out who they really are.

Issuing a non-binary birth certificate is difficult

Doty has been trying since November 2016 to have a birth certificate issued for baby Searyl. The health card of the child has been marked with U for gender (meaning that it is either undetermined or unassigned).

However, getting a genderless birth certificate is more difficult. Certain provinces in Canada allow non-binary options for gender but, in British Columbia, you can be either male or female in the papers. Doty thinks this should change, and documents all over Canada should give up on binary gender designations.
Image Source: Pexels