By Tyler Marr

Local supports push to remove gender markers from ID

Jul 26, 2017 | 5:00 PM

Dexton Bourne is a non-binary individual. They use the pronouns ‘they’ and ‘their’ rather than ‘he’ and ‘she.’

Bourne does not identify as male or female, making the options available on government issued ID rather limiting.

“I would like to see that change,” the 26-year-old from Prince Albert told paNOW. This comes as the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission (SHRC) is set to take action against the Saskatchewan government following a human rights complaint.

Saskatoon parent Fran Forsberg first filed the complaint four years ago on behalf of her transgender child, Renn. The province’s Vital Statistics Agency refused to change her child’s birth record from male to female. She claimed her child rights were violated. The SHRC has recently agreed and will be applying to the Court of Queen’s Bench to have gender markers removed from government ID.

Bourne agreed the markers can lead to discrimination. Though Bourne has not had any major incidents targeted towards them, a number of their friends face discrimination regularly.

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“We have had some issues in P.A. where trans individuals have been approached in washrooms and those things have happened quite frequently,” they said.

Though some argue the loss of a gender marker could create obstacles for medical treatment and medical professionals, Bourne would disagree. They argued in most emergency situations, a person’s gender is irrelevant. 

“I don’t think people realize and they make a big deal out of it,” they said, adding the choice to have a gender marker on piece of ID should be up to the individual. 

Though Bourne is not involved in the SHRC case, a friend of theirs is. 

Dustin Dyck, who chairs the Trans Umbrella Foundation in the province, is one of the three families involved in the legal battle to remove the ‘M’ or ‘F’ from birth certificates and government ID.

Dyck’s 14-year-old child Jordyn is gender diverse, identifying as agender. This option is not available on birth certificates or ID and Dyck argues if it were, the years of bullying his child has faced could have been reduced. Jordyn has attempted suicide multiple times in their life.

“It has been a struggle, to say the least,” he said. “I know that the bullying may still happen if the gender marker is removed, but it will stop some of the questions. It will help that go away.”

Dyck would like to see any form of government ID that has gender markers to be deemed discriminatory and removed. He said some other jurisdictions in Canada have other options such as a ‘U’ or ‘O’ but believes that would only “put a bigger target on my child.”

“I think if the default is to have no gender marker there, there are some people who feel it is necessary, so then they can do that,” he said. “It can be a personal decision for everybody.”

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr