This article by Katrina Fox argues for relationship recognition beyond marriage…
The gay, lesbian and queer communities in Sydney are being called on to ‘Say Something’ during the annual Mardi Gras parade this weekend.
According to organisers, the right to marry is a dominant theme of a large number of floats. But campaigns in favour of ‘gay’ or ‘same-sex’ marriage ignore those intersex, trans and other sex and/or gender diverse people who are unable to marry.
Many intersex people’s sex is regarded as indeterminate at birth, with doctors often making the decision to surgically construct them into the appearance of stereotypical males or females and writing either an M or F on the birth certificate, even though their gender expression in later years may be contrary to their decreed sex. “So long as I have a sex on my birth certificate, as distinct to the gender I live, I am constrained by the same legislation that limits same-sex couples – that a marriage can only be between a man and a woman,” says Gina Wilson, president of the Australian chapter of Organisation Intersex International (OII).
Simply allowing ‘same-sex’ couples to marry will still leave people like Wilson and many otherintersex, sex and/or gender diverse (ISGD) people unable to access the same legal right. A more inclusive option is to allow individuals to get married whatever their sex or gender, including those who identify as having no sex or gender or whose sex may be indeterminate.
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