--- description: An Oregon resident who identifies as neither male nor female is now legally considered nonbinary, per a court ruling Friday title: Oregon Judge Allows Resident to Change Sex to Nonbinary image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd405dd57c16b0a1/698858275f570fd7f3b1c24d/gender-neutral.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [oregon](/tag/oregon/) ## oregon Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Oregon Judge Allows Resident to Change Sex to Nonbinary  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 11, 2016 1:44 PM CUT  03 Mar 2013 --- Germany, Male and female sign on toilet door --- Image by © Hartmut Loebermann/Westend61/Corbis 03 Mar 2013 --- Germany, Male and female sign on toilet door --- Image by © Hartmut Loebermann/Westend61/CorbisCorbis  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 11, 2016 1:44 PM CUT An Oregon resident who identifies as neither male nor female is [now legally considered nonbinary](http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/06/oregon%5Fcourt%5Fallows%5Fperson%5Fto.html "undefined"), per a court ruling Friday. Judge Amy Holmes Hehn legally changed Jamie Shupe’s sex from female to nonbinary, something legal experts believe to be a first in the U.S., the [_Oregonian_ reported](http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/06/oregon%5Fcourt%5Fallows%5Fperson%5Fto.html "undefined"). “I was assigned male at birth due to biology,” Shupe said, according to the newspaper. “I’m stuck with that for life. My gender identity is definitely feminine. My gender identity has never been male, but I feel like I have to own up to my male biology. Being nonbinary allows me to do that. I’m a mixture of both. I consider myself as a third sex.” Oregon law allows for the change of a person’s sex if a judge determines they have had surgical, hormonal or other treatment related to gender transition, [according to the _Oregonian_](http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/06/oregon%5Fcourt%5Fallows%5Fperson%5Fto.html "undefined"). “The sexual reassignment has been completed,” Hehn wrote in the ruling. “No person has shown cause why the requested General Judgment should not be granted.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4365112/oregon-resident-legal-change-nonbinary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4365112/oregon-resident-legal-change-nonbinary/"},"headline":"Oregon Judge Allows Resident to Change Sex to Nonbinary","datePublished":"2016-06-11T13:44:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:32:09.838Z","description":"Legal experts believe it's a first in the U.S.","url":"https://time.com/4365112/oregon-resident-legal-change-nonbinary/","keywords":["oregon"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd405dd57c16b0a1/698858275f570fd7f3b1c24d/gender-neutral.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd405dd57c16b0a1/698858275f570fd7f3b1c24d/gender-neutral.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"gender neutral","caption":"gender neutral","creditText":"Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/oregon/","name":"oregon"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4365112/oregon-resident-legal-change-nonbinary/","name":"Oregon Judge Allows Resident to Change Sex to Nonbinary"}}]}] ```