Since Monday, April 11, the United States has taken another step toward recognizing a neutral gender, neither male nor female. Anyone applying for a passport in the country can now tick the “X” box, instead of just choosing between male and female. The announcement was made by the State Department on March 31, International Day of Transgender Visibility.
By fulfilling this promise made in the fall, the State Department, according to a press release, will become the “first federal agency” US to offer this option on an official ID. A few other countries allow a similar approach. Australia had created this neutral genre in 2011. Pakistan, Nepal, New Zealand, Canada, Germany and Argentina have since followed suit.
“Transgenders are among the bravest in our country. But no one should be brave to just be themselves.”, the White House said in a statement. The State Department had already announced in October 2021 that it had issued the first US passport with an “X” marked “sex”, but it was not a routine procedure at the time.
“There I have the state that says who I am as a person”
As one of the first to apply for these new gender neutral identity papers, D. Ojeda places a cross in the box with an “X”, confirming, without justifying it, her gender reassignment from his previous passport indicating a female gender. D. – who uses the pronouns she and she in English, iel, in French and prefers to be given to the masculine – find that “unbelievable”†
Because if his family “still don’t recognize it” his identity, with such document, at least the state [la] recognize[ra] †D. told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
My family, they still haven’t got it. They still don’t use the first name I want. At least there I have the state that says who I am as a person. And, you know, I can tell people, “Here are my papers, the state sees me like this, and maybe you should go see me as I am”.
1.2 million non-binary people in the United States
The White House also announced a series of initiatives to facilitate administrative procedures for transgender people: an update to the body scanners used at airports to account for non-binary and intersex people; simplification of many administrative procedures; or even the creation of an information website on gender transition, aimed at young people and their parents.
“It’s a beautiful symbol of support [qui] will certainly be important for a small number of people”regards, for its part, Abeni Jones, author and artist, in a column published by the Washington Post† However, for someone who has “socially transformed, [fait inscrire le genre féminin sur son passeport] and underwent breast surgery.it’s not quite a “advance for admission” in a ratio as presented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “There would be an easier, cheaper and more powerful option: remove the mention of sex from all passports”says Abeni Jones.
About 1.2 million people in the United States identify as non-binary, according to a study published in June from the University of California. Only about 16,700, or 1.4%, would likely apply for a gender-neutral passport, finds a study by the williams institutean American think tank, passed on by the newspaper The hill†
The issue of gender is one of the most divisive
D. Ojeda has a gender neutral Virginia driver’s license. Currently, twenty-one states and the District of Columbia allow such permits. But issues of gender and identity are among the most divisive in the country. Other conservative states have enacted restrictive rules, especially regarding caring for transgender minors, playing sports, or even using the restrooms.
in texas, investigations have been opened against parents under a controversial governor’s directive that equates certain procedures “gender reassignment” for minors to “bad treatments” criminally objectionable. He mentions surgical procedures but also hormonal treatments. “The administration [fédérale] condemns once again the proliferation of dangerous legislative attacks on transgender people in several states”reads the statement from the White House.
“It has been proven that this kind of legislation stigmatizes and endangers the well-being of transgender children” and “risk of discrimination and intimidation” to their families, says the American CEO.
