Yes passports are back in the news not because of the scare that we had a couple of weeks ago but because of a new court ruling.
What happens if you are intersexed or non-binary, which box d you check off? Male? Female? Or no box at all? Well a person of “ambiguous physical sexual characteristics” refused to check a box and the State Department said you have to check a box.
What happens if you are intersexed or non-binary, which box d you check off? Male? Female? Or no box at all? Well a person of “ambiguous physical sexual characteristics” refused to check a box and the State Department said you have to check a box.
Judge: U.S. can't deny passport application over refusal to pick genderThere is no international law banning using a “X” on passport.
Hartford Courant
By Kathleen Foody Associated Press
September 19, 2018
U.S. officials cannot deny a passport application from an intersex Colorado resident based solely on a refusal to select male or female for gender, a federal judge said Wednesday.
The U.S. State Department's varied explanations for rejecting the application weren't reasonable, U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson said in his ruling, forcing him to set aside the decision as "arbitrary and capricious."
The ruling is limited, but advocates said they hope it leads to expanded gender choices on federal identification.
Dana Zzyym, who was born with ambiguous physical sexual characteristics and identifies as nonbinary in gender, not as male or female, sued in 2015. Zzyym had requested "X'' as a gender marker on a passport application, and it was denied.
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Jackson dismissed the department's explanations for rejecting the passport, including concerns that it would complicate the process of verifying an applicant's identity and determining eligibility based on federal, state and local databases.
[…]
The ruling only applies to Zzyym, but Lambda Legal senior attorney Paul Castillo called it a "groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind" challenge to limited gender options on federal identification.
The International Civil Aviation organization, the U.N. agency that sets standards for international travel documents, says gender should be marked on passports as male, female or "X for unspecified." Several countries issue passports with gender designations other than female or male, including "X'' or "O."I know that there is a movement here in Connecticut to allow an “X” for gender on state documents.
A number of U.S. states similarly issue driver's licenses or ID cards with "X'' as a choice for gender markers, including California, Oregon and Washington.
Or, they could simply remove gender designation altogether. These days, especially, I don't see what purpose it serves. Statistically, the small number of transgender or gender neutral people would not change anything. Individually, if we are allowed to express ourselves as we please, why should the government have need to categorize anyone based on gender (or sex)?
ReplyDeleteI viewed my driver license gender marker change as a sort of rite of passage, but I really just wanted the "M" removed. I don't really care for "X" because it may out me when I don't want to be. If my pic and name match up, that's all they need to know.