Bill seeks to bring legal rights to intersex people

Parents will no longer be "forced to immediately choose between male and female" on their child's birth certificate if a child is born with intersex characteristics, under a bill proposed in the Dáil today.

People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger has introduced a bill to bring legal rights and recognition to non-binary and intersex people here.

The bill would introduce the option of an X marker on the Gender Recognition Certificate, in addition to M (male) and F (female).

The Dublin West TD says up to 10% of people are LGBTQI in surveys, and at least a third of these people identify as non-binary.

She said globally around 2% of the population defines themselves this way.

Deputy Coppinger said "non-binary.. refers to any person who identifies outside the binary of male and female".

She said the Census should have posed a question in regard to this.

Deputy Coppinger defined Intersex people as "those born with innate variations of sex characteristic(s), that vary from societal and/or medical understanding of typical female and male bodies"

"Approximately 1 in every 500 babies is born with either ambiguous genitalia or other variations of sex development," she said.

The UN recognises that 1.79% of people have an intersex trait, which she compared to the 2% of people worldwide with green eyes.

Deputy Coppinger said that the bill was important to intersex people and she called for a ban on surgery for children born this way.

She said LGBTQI people were living with hostility in the world today and that many people were "living in hiding in Ireland" because they're not able to be comfortable going to their doctor, or hospital or getting a passport.

She said in 2018 a review of the Gender Recognition Act took place and a commitment was made to recognise non-binary people.

She said this bill "would fulfil the hopes and promises that people have" that this recognition would happen.

The bill will move to second stage after being unopposed.