TRAVEL
State Dept. to Allow “X” Gender Marker on Passports
Announcement follows legislative push by state, federal lawmakers
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
The US State Department
will soon allow transgender,
non-binary, and
gender non-conforming
individuals to list “X” on their
passports. The agency has also
tossed an outdated rule requiring
trans applicants to provide medical
documentation when identifying
their gender on paperwork.
Under the proposed rule unveiled
on June 30, the department acknowledged
that some of the changes
could take some time — but
parts of it are immediate. The department
said it is immediately allowing
individuals to choose an “M”
or “F” gender designation and waiving
the medical documentation requirement,
which previously stipulated
that medical providers needed
to attest to an applicant’s identity if
their sex assigned at birth differed
from their gender. Those who plan
to list an “X” gender marker will
need to wait, though a timetable on
that is not yet available.
The proposed rule changes will
also apply to Consular Reports of
Birth Abroad (CRBA), a document
that verifi es US citizenship to children
born abroad to US citizen parents.
In May, the State Department
did away with a policy banning citizenship
rights for children of some
binational same-sex partners.
That policy pre-dated the Trump
era but was aggressively defended
Intersex advocate and US Navy veteran Dana Zzyym led a challenge to the State Department’s policy
on gender markers for passports.
by the Trump administration.
“In line with the Administration’s
commitment to re-engage
with allies and partners, the department
is taking these steps
after considerable consultation
with like-minded governments
who have undertaken similar
changes,” Secretary of State Antony
J. Blinken said in a written
statement. “We also value our
continued engagement with the
LGBTQI+ community, which will
inform our approach and positions
moving forward. With this action,
I express our enduring commitment
to the LGBTQI+ community
today and moving forward.”
Intersex and non-binary US
Navy veteran Dana Zzyym helped
catapult this issue into the spotlight
after they began petitioning
the State Department in 2015 for
a gender-neutral passport. The
nearly four-year battle came to
a head in 2018 when US District
Judge R. Brooke Jackson in Denver
sided with Zzyym and demanded
that the State Department issue a
passport accurately refl ecting their
gender.
Six years later, Zzyym, who received
support from the LGBTQ
litigation group Lambda Legal, is
celebrating the victory.
“I’ve been at this fi ght for so
long,” Zzyym said in a written
statement. “I am optimistic that,
with the incredible support and
work of Lambda Legal and the Intersex
Campaign for Equality, I will
soon receive an accurate passport
LAMBDA LEGAL
— one that refl ects who I truly am;
and that will allow for me to present
in person at the several international
conferences to which I’ve
been invited to present on issues
confronting intersex people.”
Although Lambda Legal was
“disappointed” that the State Department
did not offer an offi cial
timeline for the rollout of “X” on
US passports, the organization applauded
the State Department’s
progress on this issue.
“The update to the State Department’s
policy has been a long
time coming and is prompted in
large part by three separate court
rulings in Dana’s favor,” Lambda
Legal counsel Paul D. Castillo
said in a written statement. “Dana
showed incredible courage and
perseverance throughout, and it
is rewarding now to see the light
at the end of the tunnel. With today’s
announcement, countless
intersex, non-binary, and other
gender-diverse United States
passport applicants will, at last,
get the accurate passports they
need.”
Last year, in a similar lawsuit,
a federal district court in Nevada
ruled that the State Department
violated the Fifth Amendment
equal protection rights of Oliver
Bruce Morris, a transgender man
who requested a passport that
identifi ed him as male. The State
Department initially declined this
request because he did not have a
doctor’s note affi rming his gender
transition.
To Advertise Contact: Gayle H. Greenberg
718-260-4585 • ggreenberg@schnepsmedia.com
JULY 15 - JULY 28, 2 12 021 | GayCityNews.com
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