A birth certificate using "intersex" in the gender field – rather than "male" or "female" – has been issued in New York City in what's believed to be the first-ever use of the term on the official document, NBC News reported.
The document was given Tuesday to now-55-year-old Sara Kelly Keenan, who was born with male genes, female genitalia and mixed internal reproductive organs, NBC News reported.
"I wondered if they'd actually issue it and wasn't going to believe it until I saw it," Keenan told NBC News. "It is both shocking and empowering."
According to NBC News, Keenan was classified as a boy for three weeks after her birth, but then was issued a female birth certificate. At that time, doctors typically recommended surgery to make "hermaphrodites" conform to one of two genders.
Keenan last September also became the first California resident to change her gender to "non-binary." She now has two legal genders.
Keenan's lawyer, Toby Adams, called the intersex birth certificate one with "huge historic significance."
"It shows a change in the nation's understanding of gender as not being constrained by the myth of the binary," Adams said.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.