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New Yorkers can now register as a third gender, under laws that came into effect yesterday.

The reform, designed for transgender people and those who are gender non-conforming, means parents can choose “X” instead of male or female for their newborn’s birth certificate.

Adults born in New York can also change their recorded gender if they feel that the one they were given at birth does not reflect who they are now.

The law was among a raft of measures that came into effect on New Year’s Day which show how New York is more progressive than London on some social issues.

New York state and New York City were able to make these changes themselves, whereas London often has to rely on central government.

"It will allow transgender New Yorkers to live with the dignity and respect they deserve" New York mayor Bill de Blasio

The laws about gender were approved by the New York City Council and Board of Health last year after a campaign by InterACT, a group that supports intersex youth and those with an anatomy or chromosomes that are not male or female.

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, said at the time that it would “allow transgender and gender non­conforming New Yorkers to live with the dignity and respect they deserve”.

Gretchen Van Wye, an assistant commissioner in the health department’s statistics bureau, said that it was trying to differentiate between sex, which is more biological, and gender, which is more subjective.

She said: “We conflate those on the birth certificate, and we’re trying to serve the needs of the most while accommodating the requests that we’re getting.”

New York is not the first place to make such a change — California, Oregon and Washington State began offering similar measures at the start of last year — but it is one of the most important.

London and the UK officially recognise only two genders, although the title Mx is widely accepted for intersex people.

The Ministry of Justice announced in July 2017 that it would begin consulting the public on introducing a third option but nothing came of it.

A third gender has also been introduced on official documents in Germany. Intersex people can choose “diverse” on paperwork such as birth certificates.

The German government voted for the move after the Federal Constitutional Court called on law­makers to introduce a third category or dispense with gender altogether. Intersex people are those who do not fit the biological definition of male or female.

Those choosing the option will need a doctor’s certificate to register.