Alex MacFarlane
Born
Victoria, Australia
Known forBeing the first known person to hold passport with X sex marker

Alex MacFarlane is an Australian activist who is an intersex person born with XXY sex chromosomes in Victoria. MacFarlane is believed to be the first holder of an indeterminate birth certificate and passport.[1][2][3][4][5]

Birth certificate and passport

MacFarlane is believed to be the first person in Australia to obtain a birth certificate recording sex as indeterminate, and the first Australian passport with an 'X' sex marker in 2003.[1][2][3][4][5] MacFarlane was reported as receiving a passport with an 'X' sex descriptor in early 2003.[1][2][5]

This was stated by the West Australian newspaper to be on the basis of a challenge by MacFarlane, using an indeterminate birth certificate issued by the State of Victoria. The West Australian newspaper reported in January 2003 that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade "had decided to accommodate people whose birth certificates recorded their sex as indeterminate... Alex is also believed to be the first Australian issued with a birth certificate acknowledging a gender other than male or female. Alex says "indeterminate – also known as intersex". It was issued in Alex's birth State of Victoria, which unlike WA, changed its policy to allow the category.[1]

Several other Australians are known to have adopted sex non-specific or indeterminate identification documents subsequently, including Tony Briffa,[6][7] and Norrie May-Welby.[8][9][10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "X marks the spot for intersex Alex" (PDF). West Australian. bodieslikeours.org. 11 January 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2013.
  2. ^ a b c Holme, Ingrid (2008). "Hearing People's Own Stories". Science as Culture. 17 (3): 341–344. doi:10.1080/09505430802280784. S2CID 143528047.
  3. ^ a b "Newsletter of the Sociology of Sexualities Section of the American Sociological Association" (PDF). American Sociological Association Sexualities News. 6 (1). Summer 2003.
  4. ^ a b "Ten years of 'X' passports, and no protection from discrimination". Organisation Intersex International Australia. 19 January 2013. Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  5. ^ a b c "Neither man nor woman". Sydney Morning Herald. 27 June 2010.
  6. ^ "OII VP Tony Briffa to wed partner in NZ ceremony – Gay News Network". Gay News Network. 27 September 2013. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  7. ^ "About Tony". Briffa.org. 2012. Archived from the original on 6 April 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  8. ^ "Briton is recognised as world's first officially genderless person". The Telegraph. 15 March 2010.
  9. ^ "Norrie May-Welby's battle to regain status as the world's first legally genderless person". Daily Life Australia. 8 November 2013.
  10. ^ "Norrie May-Welby: The World's First Legally Genderless Person". The Huffington Post. 18 March 2010.
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