Australia mulls official 'intersex' gender

CANBERRA, Australia, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The Australian government's Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission is pushing for "intersex" to become an officially recognized gender.

The commission distributed a paper entitled "Sex Files -- The legal recognition of sex: Proposed reform" among transgender and transsexual advocates that supports adding "intersex" to the recognized genders of male and female for use on passports and driver's licenses, the Sydney Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

"Recognition of intersex: Persons who cannot or do not identify as either male or female would be able to choose to be identified on their birth certificate and passport as intersex," the paper reads. "A person who cannot or chooses not to undergo surgery would not be automatically ineligible to request a change in their legal sex."

However, some transgender lobby groups said the proposed move would not go far enough and requested a fourth option, "other," be made available for those who would not fall under the "intersex" label because they believe their gender is indefinable or constantly changing.

"The AHRC proposal does not go far enough in providing legal status and social spaces by only allowing people to be male, female and intersex," said Sex and Gender Education Australia spokeswoman Tracie O'Keefe.