A baby born in Canada is believed to be the first infant born without an official gender designation.
The baby, born in November and named Searyl Atli, was issued with a “U” on its health card in the spot designated for the “sex” of the baby.
According to the BBC, the U could stand for “undetermined” or “unassigned.”
Kori Doty, a non-binary transgender person and the infant’s mother, is wanting to leave the child’s birth certificate gender-less.
“I’m raising Searyl in such a way that until they have the sense of self and command of vocabulary to tell me who they are, I’m recognizing them as a baby and trying to give them all the love and support to be the most whole person that they can be outside of the restrictions that come with the boy box and the girl box,” Doty said.
Doty said that people who are assigned a specific gender at birth often have a hard time later in life when they want to legally change their gender.
“When I was born, doctors looked at my genitals and made assumptions about who I would be, and those assignments followed me and followed my identification throughout my life,” Doty said. “Those assumptions were incorrect, and I ended up having to do a lot of adjustments since then.”
Doty said that authorities have refused to issue the infant’s birth certificate without a gender designation, so she has filed a judicial review of the case.