France appeal court says 'non' to intersex people calling themselves 'neutral gender'

France’s top appeals court has ruled against granting intersex people the right to label themselves as ‘neutral gender’.

The Cour de Cassation in Paris yesterday (Thursday) rejected the case of a 66-year-old psychotherapist who identifies as being neither male nor female.

Using the pseudonym Gaëtan Schmitt, the plaintiff was registered as male at birth despite being of indeterminate gender, and doesn’t now recognise as being either a man or a woman.

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Intersex is a term used to describe any person whose reproductive or sexual anatomy doesn’t clearly match the typical definition of male or female.

The Local quoted Schmitt’s lawyer, Bertrand Périer as saying: “Gaëtan is neither a man nor a woman. They do not feel like a man or woman. They cannot become a man or a woman. And they do not want to become a man or woman.”

Schmitt is married to woman and has an adopted child. The court said the plaintiff has, “in the eyes of outsiders, the appearance and social behaviour of someone of the male sex”.

Schmitt had been granted ‘neutral sex’ status by a regional court in Tours in 2015. However, this decision was overturned by a court in Orléans last year.

Now the appeal court has stood by the 2016 ruling, stating that the “duality” of gender was “necessary to the social and legal organisation, of which it is a cornerstone”.

The recognition of a neutral gender would have “deep repercussions” on French law and would result in “numerous legislative changes”.

Bertrand Périer called the ruling a “missed opportunity”, telling the New York Times: “I don’t see why France’s social or legal organisation would necessitate gender binarism.”

(Top image: Rex)