In historic case, Oregon judge rules a person is allowed to be neither sex


Retired Army sergeant Jamie Shupe of Portland, Oregon, was born with male anatomy and later underwent hormone treatments to transition to a woman. But neither sex seemed to fit, according to Jamie.
Identifying as nonbinary, Jamie approached an Oregon judge with a bid to legally be recognized as neither male nor female, and was granted the status in a ruling on Friday. Advocates say it is the first case of its kind in the country, although the ruling went mostly unnoticed at the end of last week, The New York Times reports.
Jamie prefers only their first name be used as well as the use of the pronouns "they" and "their." According to the judge, Jamie was "pushing the envelope" with the petition.
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However, Jamie's lawyer, Lake Perriguey, disagreed. "We're not, really," he reportedly said. "The envelope just needs to get bigger."
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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