R&I – FS
The State Department issued its first passport with an X gender designation, a significant step for Americans who don’t identify as exclusively male or female.
The department said Wednesday it was part of a new federal effort to broaden options available on passports for applicants who are nonbinary, intersex or gender-nonconforming. A State Department spokesperson said the option of an “X” gender marker is estimated to be available for all passport applicants and those who wish to update their passports by early 2022 after the Office of Management and Budget approves the form updates.
Dana Zzyym, an intersex and nonbinary U.S. Navy veteran who sued the State Department in 2015 over the issue, was the first person to receive the passport with this designation, according to Lambda Legal, which represents Mx. Zzyym, who uses the gender-neutral honorific.
“I almost burst into tears when I opened the envelope, pulled out my new passport, and saw the ‘X’ stamped boldly under ‘sex,’” Mx. Zzyym said. “It took six years, but to have an accurate passport, one that doesn’t force me to identify as male or female but recognizes I am neither, is liberating.”
Mariam
Article URL : https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-issues-first-passport-with-x-gender-marker-11635356954