Neither male nor female.
A San Diegan is now the third person in the country to be legally identified as non-binary.
"I am now recognized as Arata Tiffany Furuya and that my gender non-binary," said Furuya, better known as A.T.
They are celebrating a victory as they strut down Hillcrest. Furuya accomplished something today only two others in the nation have.
They legally changed their gender, now identifying as neither male or female.
"I'm not like half man, half woman. I just don't have a gender i"Identity," they said.
Born a girl, Furuya said their mom never enforced female behavior on them. It wasn't until college they learned what they could identify as.
"I started more internally navigating and exploring what my gender identity is."
Explaining their identity had been a struggle up until now.
"How am I going to be read? How are people going to police my gender?"
Furuya said they decided recently to make their identity legal.
"I'm gonna try for this and I'm gonna keep trying until I get it," they said.
With help from the San Diego LGBT Community Center and Transgender Law Center, they filed documents with the court.
Today, a judge granted Furuya recognition.
"It's not just a piece of paper. It has a lot of power behind it."
Their next step, they said, is "starting to move forward with my driver's license, my social security card."
With hopes of paving the way for others.
"Seems like we have an opportunity to have our identities acknowledged."
Last month SB 179 was introduced. If passed, it would streamline the process for Californians, such as A.T., to change their legal gender to non-binary.
