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The State Department announced on Wednesday that the agency has begun process of updating passport issuance procedures to better include the LGBTQ community, as work to add a gender mark for non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming applicants.
For the first time, the federal government will allow non-binary people obtain passports and IDs using an “X” marker instead of an “M ”Or“ F ”, according to a statement from Secretary of State Antony Blinken that was first reported by The 19 th .
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced the decision on the last day of Pride Month.
Today we are taking important steps toward ensuring the fair treatment of LGBTQI + US citizens. https://t.co/tfNnTUQmsp
– Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) June 30, 2010
The Department of State will eliminate “in the most immediate way” the requirement that transgender people provide proof of their transition from a physician, which will enable transgender Americans identify themselves in their applications.
Formerly, trans people they had to select the gender “M” or “F” in their passports, that was assigned to them at birth, if it matches other citizenship or identity documents.
Blinken said the process of adding the gender marker “X” is “technologically complex” and “will take time to update. extensive ones of the system. ”
A source within the Administration told The 19 th that non-binary people can expect to be able to get the new gender marker by the end of the year.
This measure is the most significant change in federal documents for transgender people since 2010, when the Obama administration employed a policy to allow trans Americans update your passports to reflect your correct gender.
BREAKING: US to add the “X” gender marker to passports!
Trans, nonbinary, & intersex Americans “will have the power to identify their gender on travel docs w / o providing medical documentation by the end of this year.”
More from @ shoeleatherkate : https://t.co/vxKuCQbAVA– Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (@TLDEF) June 30, 2021
At least 20 states and Washington, DC, have also implemented similar changes in state documentation, including New Jersey, which enacted the change in April after delaying it last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The announcement, which was made on the last day of Pride Month, an annual celebration of the LGBTQ community that takes place during June, means that United States You will soon join a host of other countries with similar gender-inclusive passport policies, including Canada. Argentina, Australia, Denmark, Iceland, Nepal and New Zealand.
The gender marker “X” is recognized by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency that recommends international document standards Travel.