New Delhi: The United States has issued the first US passport with the “X” gender marker.
The State Department said it aimed to give non-binary, intersex and gender-nonconforming people a gender marker other than male or female on their travel document, Reuters reported.
India already offers third gender on documents like Canada, Germany and Australia.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in June that X would be offered as an option on US passports.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that the US is adding an “X” gender marker as an option for those applying for a passport or consular report of birth abroad.
first recipient
While Price did not previously identify the person holding an “X” gender passport, Reuters reported that civil rights organization Lambda Legal said its client Dana Zazim, a US Navy veteran, is the recipient.
“When I opened the envelope, I pulled out my new passport, and boldly saw the ‘X’ under ‘sex’,” the intersex and non-binary man said in a statement, Reuters reports.
“It took six years but to get an accurate passport that doesn’t force me to identify as male or female, but recognizes that I am neither, that is emancipation.”
Zzyym uses the gender-neutral pronouns “they,” “them” and “their.”
According to Lambda Legal, Zazim was born with ambiguous sexual characteristics, and had to undergo several “irreversible, painful and medically unnecessary surgeries” because his parents decided to raise him as a boy.
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