America Finally Allows X Gender Markers on Passports

While X gender markers have been an option in Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, India, Malta, Nepal, New Zealand, and Pakistan for some time, it took the U.S. a while to catch up. However, on October 27 of this year, the U.S. issued its first passport with an X gender marker to Dana Zzyym.

“I almost burst into tears when I opened the envelope, pulled out my new passport, and saw the ‘X’ stamped boldly under ‘sex,’” says Zzyym.

Over the last six years, Zzyym—U.S. Navy Veteran, associate director of the Intersex Campaign for Equality, and resident of Fort Collins, CO—has been fighting for their right, as well as the rights of other intersex and nonbinary U.S. citizens, for a passport that reflects who they really are.

“Today is a milestone for the United States, as the State Department issues the first passport with an ‘X’ designation, and we are so glad that soon all transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people will be able to access an accurate marker on their passport,” says Arli Christian of the ACLU.

In a year of rampant anti-trans legislation around the country, this feels like a win worth celebrating, particularly for nonbinary and intersex folx.

“Just as importantly,” writes Oliver Haug of them, “trans, nonbinary, and intersex passport holders will be allowed to request their gender marker of choice without needing to provide any kind of medical confirmation of their gender.”

While this victory might not seem like an important milestone to those who aren’t transgender, having identification that matches your gender means everything. In a report released by the National Center for Transgender Equality in 2015, “showing an ID with a name or gender that did not match their gender presentation, 25 percent of people were verbally harassed; 16 percent were denied services or benefits; 9 percent were asked to leave a location or establishment, and 2 percent were assaulted or attacked,” while, “35 percent of those who did not try to change their legal name did not try because they could not afford it.”

This is all to say that a gender marker that matches one’s gender means the ability to travel with less harassment and more safety.

“When a person obtains identity documents that reflect their true identity,” says Jessica Stern, diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ Rights, “they live with greater dignity and respect.”

Photo by David Zalubowski