Seari Doty Research Paper

(Zamira Rahim, CNN) * Canadian baby given health card without sex designation. Searyl Atli Doty is probably the first baby in history to be born without an assigned gender stated on a government issued I.D. card. The parent of the infant avoided delivering their child in a medical facility so that the baby would not have to encounter a “genital inspection” in the hands of the medical system. Normally on a health document, there is always an indication of the sex whether it’s a male or female. There never was a third option until now which is the letter “U” defined as unknown or unspecified. Kori Doty, Searyl’s parent identifies as a non-binary transgender. They are part of the “Gender Free I.D. Coalition” campaign. As stated on their website,

We all come in to this world either as male/female and that’s something we don’t get to choose. However, we do get to decide who we like to identify as. Whether you stay the same, transition to the opposite sex, or identify as neither, it’s all up to you. That’s the power of “freedom of choice”. Well at least it is here in Northern America.

The “Gender-Free I.D. Coalition” campaign believe that the best solution is to remove any trace of gender on all identity documents all altogether. Which brings me to ask, why do we have gender assigned I.D.’s? When it comes to I.D. documents, there is no beneficial reason to state the gender of a person. It does not affect anything or anyone at all. However, the main purpose

as to why medical authorities require such information is so that they can treat patients with optimal care. If gender identification did not exist in health care, it would be difficult to discover different health risks in people. Some illnesses are more common in female than in male and vice versa. In order for health care authorities to keep track of this, its beneficial for them to know everything there is about a person. That includes things like gender, age, family history