Free Republic

AP) – The Vatican has issued a new document rejecting the concept of changing one’s biological sex – a setback for transgender people who had hoped Pope Francis might be setting the stage for a more welcoming approach from the Catholic Church. Around the world, major religions have diverse approaches to gender identity, and the inclusion or exclusion of transgender people. Some examples: Christianity The Catholic Church’s disapproving stance toward gender transition is shared by some other denominations. For example, the Southern Baptist Convention – the largest Protestant denomination in the United States – adopted a resolution in 2014 stating...

The Department of Health has passed a rule allowing a third gender option on Washington State birth certificates. Washington State residents will be able to change their gender to a third option — “X” — beginning on January 27. Proposed at the end of last August, the rule saw passionate public support as well as criticism. Today, a mere four months since it was proposed, the rule has passed. The “X” refers to all genders outside the gender-binary, or, in layman's terms, strictly male or female. The “X” casts a wide umbrella of non-binary options that would alleviate confusion and...

Germany’s top court on Wednesday required parliament to legally recognize a “third gender” from birth, potentially making it the first European country to offer intersex people the option of identifying as neither male nor female. Current regulations on civil status are discriminatory against intersex people, the Federal Constitutional Court said, noting that the sexual identity of an individual is protected as a basic right. Legislators must by the end of 2018 pass a new regulation to offer a third gender option in birth registers, the court added, ruling in favour of an appeal brought by an intersex person. In the...

California lawmakers voted to pass a bill Wednesday that will add a third gender option — non-binary — on state identification cards. Senate Bill 179, introduced by Sen. Tori Atkins, will now move onto Assembly after the 26-12 Senate vote. If it passes Assembly, California Gov. Jerry Brown can sign the measure into law, making California the first state to add a third gender option on IDs. In addition to changing the gender selection on driver’s licenses, the bill would also allow three options for birth certificates, identity cards and gender change court orders. The bill, if signed into law,...

Norway’s parliament has rejected a proposal to bring in a third gender category with the gender-neutral personal pronoun “hen”. The proposal was part of a new action plan for lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI), people put forward by Norway’s Labour Party. But the reform was rejected by the Conservative Party, the Progress Party, the Christian Democrats and the Center Party — which together represent a majority of seats in the Norwegian parliament, the Dagen newspaper reported on Tuesday. Jan Elisabeth Lindvik, leader of the Association for Transgender People, said it was only a matter of time before a...

When Oregon resident Jamie Shupe quietly walked into a Portland, Oregon, courthouse this June and received permission to change their gender from female to "non-binary," they did so without the assistance of any nonprofit or national transgender advocacy group. Shupe's successful legal change to a third gender stunned the national LGBTQ community; many intersex and gender nonconforming people had dreamed of someday being able to opt out of "male" and "female" gender designations, but no one thought it could be done so easily. In the six months since Shupe became the first legally non-binary U.S. citizen, the amount of people...