Story highlights "It feels amazing to be free from a binary sex classification," Oregon resident says

Legal experts believe it is the state's first such ruling

(CNN) Army veteran Jamie Shupe, who identifies as neither male nor female, can legally be considered nonbinary, a judge ruled.

In what legal experts believe is Oregon's first such ruling, Judge Amy Holmes Hehn said Friday that the Portland resident's sex has been changed from female to nonbinary.

"It feels amazing to be free from a binary sex classification system that inadequately addressed who I really am, a system in which I felt confined," Shupe said.

Shupe was assigned the gender of male at birth, but started transitioning to a female in 2013, more than a decade after retiring from the military as a sergeant first class, Shupe said.

Shupe, who lived in Pittsburgh at the time, said transitioning to a female was the only option available then.

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