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The Western Australian Law Reform Commission has recommended leaving gender off birth certificates, as well as adding a third official option of non-binary.

Under current laws, children are assigned a gender by their parents before they reach 60 days of age.

Critics say this is discriminatory to intersex people, places pressure on parents to nominate a gender, and makes officially changing a gender more arduous, as it means a change of birth certificate, reports ABC News.

The commission recommends the birth certificate gender field should be left blank and a classification held on a confidential state register.

The classification would include three options: male, female or non-binary.

A person could apply to the Registrar for a ‘proof of sex certificate’.

The WALRC’s chair Dr David Cox said the changes would not make any difference to the vast majority of the population.

“It’s not going to affect the fabric of society, it’s not doing anything really but it’s going to make life a lot easier for a small group of people,” Dr Cox said.

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  • Why even issue a birth certaificate? What if they decide that they want to have their legs removed and replaced with wheels and that they are actually a shopping trolley and not human? Surely we should respect that and wait until they are old enough to decide if they wont to be a human or a shopping trolley.

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  • This is ridiculous.

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  • How stupid the world is just going crazy! This is just way too far!

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  • You can change the way you look or even have surgery but you cannot change your biological sex, either xx or xy.

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  • What? Could it also have a possible mental effect on children when they reach the stage of their life and they have been listed as non binary? Confusing much? Facts are facts, most babies are born with genitalia of boy or girl (excluding medical conditions) and a birth certificate registers all details when they are born…because they are the physical and medical facts. Should it really be focused on what may change when they grow up to make it easier to amend?

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  • I thought there was a shorter length of time by which you had to register your baby’s birth with the baby’s name on it. I know there was/is rules in S.A.

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  • Why does it have to be one way or the other? Why can’t parents be given the choice to note or not note the gender when the forms are completed?

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  • I’m fine with it being female, male and in medical instances non-binary. I just hope parents don’t go to far with it, that it becomes a fad. When saying that I have considered gender neutral names for a baby girl to eliminate bias.

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  • There are and will only ever be 2 sexes, male and female! If you want to change your sex later in life that’s fine, I have no issues with that but you will still be either male or female.
    This will create hassles later in life especially security wise. There are gender neutral names, so what’s going to stop a male Charlie pretending to be a female Charlie

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  • I think this could even cause deep insecurity and identity problems by children when they’re not accepted as boys or girls by their parents.

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  • Those sort of details are used by the bureau of statistics. I’m not sure how I feel about it being left off.

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  • I’m not a fan of this. Regardless of choice later in life you are born with a penis or vagina, girl or boy.

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