Norrie, also known by the pseudonymNorrie May-Welby, is a Scottish-Australiantransgender person who pursued the legal status of being neither a man nor a woman, between 2010 and 2014. The High Court of Australia ruled in April 2014 that it was in the power of the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages to record in the register that the sex of Norrie was 'non-specific'.
Life
Norrie was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland and was assigned male at birth. Norrie moved to Perth, Western Australia at the age of seven. Norrie underwent gender reassignment surgery on 3 April 1989, but later found that being a woman was not what Norrie felt like either. Norrie moved to Sydney, New South Wales in the early 1990s, after a highly publicised court case in Perth. Doctors stated, in January 2010, that Norrie was a neuter, with a self-image that was neither male nor female, and no sex organs. Norrie prefers the term androgynous and does not mind being referred to as she or her but also likes the pronouns "xie" and "hir." In 2019 Norrie published the autobiographical book "Ultrasex "
''NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages v Norrie''
The New South Wales Government Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages initially recognized Norrie as being neither male nor female with a registered details certificate stating "not specified" in 2010. However, the Registry rescinded its decision in a formal letter of cancellation on 17 March 2010. In response, Norrie filed a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission and to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Norrie but the Registrar appealed to the High Court. In April 2014 the High Court ruled that it was within the Registrar's power to record in the register that the sex of Norrie was 'not specific'. The Court found that sex affirmation "surgery did not resolve her sexual ambiguity". In commenting on the four-year battle, Norrie stated "It was swings and roundabouts, but I'm on Wikipedia now".
Norrie and their friend were featured on the first episode of Hatch, Match & Dispatch where they were seeking to obtain a marriage license. They could not legally do so because Norrie is genderless, and the Australian marriage law at the time stated that marriage is between a man and a woman. Norrie planned to protest this to the UN. Though they declined, Norrie was told that they would be able to get married if they agreed to change their application to say "female".
