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ARTICLE · 22 APRIL 2014

Government Bulletin - 16 April 2014

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Government law news.

AustraliaGovernment, Public Sector

On 2 April 2014, the High Court handed down the landmark decision of NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages v Norrie [2014] HCA 11. This decision recognised that not all human beings can be classified by sex as female or male.

The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995 (NSW) (BDMR Act) allows applications for registration for change of sex when certain conditions are met, including that the person is over 18 years of age, has undergone a sex affirmation procedure and is not married.

The respondent, Norrie was born with male reproductive organs and subsequently underwent a sex affirmation procedure. Norrie did not consider that the surgery resolved her sexual ambiguity. Norrie lodged an application to change her sex to "non-specified". At first the Registrar registered this change, but then registered Norrie's sex as "not stated".

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