CANADIAN BABY ISSUED GENDERLESS ID CARD

Eight-month-old Searyl Atli Doty may be the first baby in the world to be issued an official identification card that does not list a gender.

The ID is a health card from the British Columbia Medical Services Plan (MSP), Canada’s national health plan. The card reads “Sex: U.”

Kori Doty, Searyl’s parent, decided to keep the baby’s gender off of all government records until Searyl is “old enough to develop their own gender identity,” Doty said in a statement issued by the Gender Free I.D. Coalition, a group that advocates for genderless government documents in Canada.

Doty, who identifies as nonbinary and transgender, gave birth to Searyl at a friend’s home in British Columbia in November. Searyl does not have a birth certificate, which is needed to be issued a medical card.