Topic of the Day: California to vote on third gender choice
13 On Your Side wants to know your thoughts:
California is moving closer to officially recognizing a third gender. SB179, the Gender Recognition Bill, would allow a third gender option, it’ll be known as “non-binary,” in addition to male and female on state IDs and legal documents. This bill passed through the state senate last month. Now, it is making its way through the legislature, with a final vote predicted to take place by the end of summer.
The bill will break down some of the barriers that prevent non-binary identifying people from being their true self. Currently, transgender people currently have to get a doctor to write a letter validating their medical treatment for transition. With this new bill, it would eliminate that criteria, allowing people to self validate what gender they identify as, male, female or non-binary. Other people believe the language in the bill could result in unintended and dangerous outcomes.
In recent news, Oregon this month became the first state to allow a third gender option on government issued ID cards. Non-binary gender refers to someone who does not identify as a man or a woman. Some companies and social media outlets have already expanded their gender options. On Facebook, for instance, there are more than 50 options for users, such as bigender, cis, intersex, trans and two-spirit.
13 On Your Side wants to know your thoughts:
What do you think about adding a third option to ID’s and legal documents?
