Activist Anunnaki Ray Marquez is the first intersex American outside NYC to obtain a medically accurate birth certificate
Colorado has become the first U.S. state to issue an intersex birth certificate.
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Anunnaki Ray Marquez is now the first American outside of NYC to obtain a medically accurate birth certificate.
Marquez, who identifies as a gender non-conforming androgynous gay man, is intersex. This means they have a variation of hormones, chromosomes, and secondary sex characteristics that can’t be categorized by the two binary sexes.
After months of petitioning the state government and providing numerous medical documents, the state of Colorado finally agreed to amend Marquez’s birth certificate. It now reads ‘intersex’ in the spot that usually says ‘male’ or ‘female.’
Marquez now lives in Jacksonville, Florida. They work as an activist for the intersex group Jax Youth Equality.
Marquez is incredibly careful to distinguish biological sex from gender identity. Some intersex people may consider themselves men or women. Others consider their gender to be non-binary.
‘Here’s the thing that confuses people: My biological sex is intersex. We live in a world that thinks that should be in alignment with my gender identity,’ Marquez told Them.us.
‘But my gender identity doesn’t match: it’s non-conforming, androgynous male. My sexual orientation confuses people even more. If I have an intersex body, they get confused when I say I’m gay.’
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While Colorado is the first state to issue an intersex birth certificate, back in 2016 Sara Kelly Keenan became the first person in U.S. history to receive an intersex birth certificate. It was issued in her hometown of New York City, which has its own vital records department separate from New York State’s.
According to the Intersex and Genderqueer Recognition Project (IGRP), which tracks advancements in non-binary rights, many other intersex birth certificates were issued in NYC following Keenan’s.
On Wednesday, 19 September — the same day Marquez received their updated birth certificate — a federal judge ruled that the State Department can’t deny passports to non-binary and intersex citizens.
