May 24, 2011 20:01 GMT  ·  By
Genderless 4-month Storm will decide whether to be a boy or a girl later in life, parents believe
   Genderless 4-month Storm will decide whether to be a boy or a girl later in life, parents believe

Two parents from Canada are raising a “genderless” baby. Storm is 4 months old, but Kathy Witterick and husband David Stocker refuse to tell anyone whether Storm is a boy or a girl so that he or she can decide on his/her own when older.

The couple already have two children, Jazz and Kio, boys who look and dress like girls, but who define themselves as males.

Kathy and David believe that society has a way of imposing gender stereotypes on babies the moment they’re born, so not telling anyone whether Storm is a boy or a girl is their way of preventing that from happening in his case, they say in an interview cited by the Daily Mail.

They believe that children can make a decision about their gender at a very tender age so, right now, their only struggle is to keep the secret about Storm until he/she can decide what he/she wants to be.

“If you really want to get to know someone, you don’t ask what’s between their legs,” Stocker says in the interview.

On that note, people should get to know and love Storm without knowing a thing about his or her gender.

Of course, the parents and the two brothers know the truth about Storm, but they’re the only ones who do.

Friends and family members received the following email when Storm was born:

“We’ve decided not to share Storm’s sex for now — a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm’s lifetime (a more progressive place?…).”

“When the baby comes out, even the people who love you the most and know you so intimately, the first question they ask is, ‘Is it a girl or a boy?’” the mother says.

She and her husband have made that impossible, by choosing to raise a “genderless” baby, at least for now.

The Star reports that initial reaction to the interview and the couple’s revelations about Storm was very virulent: this is irresponsible parenting and very damaging for the child, readers and other concerned parents say.

In response, Witterick and Stocker have announced they will no longer be giving out interviews.