Oregon judge Amy Holmes Hehn approved an application on March 10th submitted by a writer and video game designer,  Patrick Abbatiello, asking to change his sex from “male” to “agender".  Abbatiello’s application had also asked to change his name to the singular “Patch", which the judge also approved.  Patch initially sought the name and gender change on Jan. 23.  People who are agender say they have no gender identity.  This should not be confused with transgender or genderqueer.  Agender people typically describe feeling as if they have no gender identity whatsoever.  While sex refers to one’s physical features such as chromosomes, genitalia and hormones, gender is the expression of identity, of which agender identify with neither male nor female, or any point in between.

Image Courtesy of Justice Everywhere

“I was assigned male at birth due to biology,” Shupe stated. “I’m stuck with that for life.  My gender identity is definitely feminine.  My gender identity has never been male, but I feel like I have to own up to my male biology.  Being nonbinary allows me to do that. I’m a mixture of both.  I consider myself as a third sex.”  Experts believe the judge’s ruling in the Shupe case was the first ruling of its kind in the United States, and it led others to seek the same designation.  "This is the first time that Sylvia Rivera Law Project has heard about this, and we applaud the court recognizing the person as they are," attorney Kyle Rapiñan said. "We hope that other government agencies will help people self-determine their gender identity, which also includes the option to identify without a gender."  Judge Hehn explained her rationale, "I made these decisions, like all decisions, because they were supported by facts and law, and out of respect for the dignity of the people who came before me.”

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Judge Grants Oregon Resident the Right to Be GenderlessOregon judge allows video game designer to change sex to 'agender'Judge allows Oregon resident to be genderless