The State Government has abandoned plans to remove a baby’s gender from birth certificates but bureaucrats could soon allow parents to leave certificates blank in cases where babies were born with an “indeterminate” sex.

Under growing pressure from church groups and with questions about how proposed changes would affect West Australians applying for documents such as passports, the Government confirmed yesterday it would not take gender off birth certificates.

It had been considering the idea as part of a raft of changes around gender reassignment laws.

The Government yesterday tabled a report it commissioned by the WA Law Reform Commission that recommended the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act be amended to prohibit recording sex or gender on birth certificates.

The report said that instead of birth certificates showing sex, people would apply for a gender identity certificate to apply for basic government documents and services.

Government frontbencher Sue Ellery told Parliament that Labor would not remove gender from certificates but would look at other options when a baby was born with an indeterminate sex.

She said where the attending midwife or doctor at the birth was unable to identify the sex of the baby, then the parents should notify the registrar that their baby was indeterminate and that the gender section of the certificate be left blank.

In a submission to the law reform council inquiry, The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned that West Australians could face head-aches getting a passport if gender was struck from birth certificates.

DFAT said international civil aviation laws demanded that sex be specified on passports - and in order to issue passports DFAT relied upon state documents.

DFAT said WA could get around this problem by issuing gender identity certificates but cautioned that would add an extra layer of bureaucracy.

DFAT has issued non-gendered passports since 2002. Currently sex markers on an Australian passport can be F for female, M for male or X for “intersex/indeterminate/unspecified”.

The Catholic Church also opposed the idea.