澳大利亚最高法院承认“中性人”身份

Australia'shighest court has ruled that a person can be legally recognised as gender neutral as opposed to male or female, ending a long legal battle by a sexual equality campaigner.

"The High Court... recognises that a person may be neither male nor female, and so permits the registration of a person's sex as 'non-specific'," it said in a unanimous judgement, dismissing a New South Wales state appeal to recognise only men or women.

The case centred on a person called Norrie -- who does not identify as either male or female -- who fought a legal battle for a new gender-neutral category.

Norrie, who uses only a single name, was born male and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1989 to become a woman.

But the surgery failed to resolve Scottish-born Norrie's ambiguity about their sexual identity, prompting a push for the recognition of a new, non-traditional gender.

The campaigner made global headlines in February 2010 when an application to the NSW Department of Births, Deaths and Marriages accepted that "sex non-specific" could be accepted for Norrie's records.

But soon afterwards the office revoked its decision, saying the certificate was invalid and had been issued in error. At the time, Norrie said the decision felt like being "socially assassinated".

That sparked a series of appeals which resulted in the NSW Court of Appeal recognising Norrie as gender neutral last year, a decision which the High Court backed on Wednesday.

Norrie's lawyers argued in court that the activist was "being forced to live a lie" every time their client filled out a document that listed only two options for gender.

"Norrie's sex remained ambiguous so that it would be to record misinformation in the register to classify her as male or female," the judgment said.

Norrie told AFP last year that most people did not have a problem accepting a non-specific sex category.

"People seem to be able to accommodate the truth," the Sydney resident said.

"I'm not the first person like this in society, I'm the one that happened to put my hand up for this particular case -- I stand on the shoulders of giants."

The Intersex International Australia organisation welcomed the High Court ruling.

"We hope that the media will respect the difference between intersex and transgender identities, and identify Norrie's gender as 'non-specific'," it said.据《每日电讯报》4月2日报道，澳大利亚最高法院裁定，法律上可以承认一个人为中性人，而不被归类为男性或女性。这一结果结束了一位性别平等活动家长期的法律斗争。

“高等法院……认识到一个人可能既不是男性也不是女性，因此将允许某些人的性别登记为‘非特定’。”法院以这份一致判决驳回了新南威尔士州一份关于只有男性和女性的上诉。

案件主角叫诺里，是一个不认同自己为男性或女性的人，并为中性人这一范畴的存在而上诉。

诺里只有一个名字没有姓氏，她出生时是男性，但后来于1989年接受了变性手术成为一名女性。

但变性手术没能让出生于苏格兰的诺里明确自己的性别，这促使他/她呼吁承认一种新的，非传统的性别。

诺里曾向新南威尔士州主管出生死亡和婚姻的有关部门提出申请，要求以自己为考量接受“非特异性”的存在，并因此于2010年2月登上全球新闻的头条。

但没过多久有关部门撤销其决定，称该证书是无效的。当时，诺里说，知道这一决定后感到像“在社会归属上被除名了” 。

这引发了诺里后来的一系列上诉，最终新南威尔士州上诉法院于去年承认诺里为中性人，周三高等法院也再次确定了这一决定。

诺里的律师在法庭上声称，每次填写表格发现只有两种性别选择时，诺里都有一种“被迫活在谎言”里的感觉。

“诺里的性别仍然是模棱两可的，所以将她登记为男性或女性其实都是错误的“，判决写道。

去年诺里告诉法新社记者，大多数人可以接受非确定性这一性类别。

“人们似乎能够接受这一真相”，悉尼某居民说。

“我不是这个社会上第一个这样的人，我只是碰巧就这一问题站了出来——我是站在巨人的肩膀上的。”

澳大利亚国际中性人组织对高等法院的这一裁决感到欢欣鼓舞。

该组织表示“我们希望媒体能够尊重两性和变性身份之间的差异，并确定诺里的性别为‘非确定性’。”