The United States has issued the country’s first passport with a “X” gender designation, designed for people who do not identify with the male or female gender and call themselves “non-binary,” the State Department announced on Wednesday. The goal is to offer this option more widely from next year, according to the department.
The US government department has not released the passport holder’s name, but Colorado state activist Dana Zzyym said in an interview with Associated Press which is the person who received the document. According to the news agency, Zzyym, who is intersexual, since 2015 has been in a legal battle with the State Department to not have to choose between “male” or “female” options in her travel document.
Zzyym, 63, was born with ambiguous physical sexual characteristics and was raised as a boy. However, several surgeries have failed to give the activist an all-male appearance, according to legal documents cited by the AP. Zzyym served in the military as a man, and later came to identify himself as an intersexual.
“It took six years, but having an accurate passport, which does not require me to identify myself as a man or a woman, but which recognizes that I am neither, is liberating,” Zzyym said in a statement.
The US State Department had stated in June that it was working to add a third option in the “sex” field of the passport, to cater for non-binary and intersex people, but that this would require upgrading its systems. Other countries that already offer a third gender choice in documents include Canada, Germany, Australia, India and Argentina.
“I want to reiterate, at the time this passport is issued, the State Department’s commitment to promoting the freedom, dignity and equality of all people – including LGBTQI+ people,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in an announcement.
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