Imagine if your birth certificate couldn’t reflect your true identity. That would be pretty mad, right? That’s exactly what 55-year-old Sara Kelly Keenan had for most of her life – until now. Keenan (who uses female pronouns) is believed to have just become the first known person in the US to have her birth certificate name her gender as “intersex”.

And as you can probably imagine, Keenan is pretty darned pleased about it. She now lives in California, but celebrates New York City making the change on her birth certificate as she was born in Brooklyn.

I’ve never been more proud to be a… – Sara Kelly Keenan | Facebook



Keenan was born with male genes and female genitalia and was classified as a boy for the first three weeks of her life, to then be named as female on her birth certificate. When she was 16 she began hormone replacement therapy, and it was only in 2012 that her father told her that when she was born doctors had suggested surgically constructing a penis to match her male chromosomes, but he refused.

She said to NBC Out: “Not all intersex people will choose to identify legally as intersex, and not all parents will choose to have their intersex child identified as intersex on birth documents. But for those who do, the option must exist.”

On her Facebook she celebrates some of the highs of the turbulent year that was 2016, listing one of the positives as “Intersex is now a legal sex marker option on birth certificates for the first time in U.S. history.”

It’s not just Keenan who welcomes this historic move.

Brilliant! ⚡ U.S. issues first-known intersex birth certificatehttps://t.co/6fQ6d8rcSG — Chantal Herman (@chantalherman) January 1, 2017

wow. far more ppl born intersex than weve EVER discussed really, but its astounding that it took til 2016 to but it on a birth certificate — Glare Huxtable (@radseed) December 31, 2016

Other comments on Keenan’s Facebook post include “Congratulations from a Gender Specialist Nurse & therapist in the UK – so pleased for you!” and “We live in exciting times!”

And yes, her tie-dye jumper does indeed have “Intersexxy and perfect” emblazoned on it. You go, Sara.