U.S. State Department to add gender marker for nonbinary and intersex persons

The State Department on Wednesday issued a statement that it is working to add a gender marker for nonbinary, intersex and gender non-conforming individuals to U.S. passports.

The statement by Secretary Antony Blinken affirmed the department’s commitment “to promoting the freedom, dignity, and equality of all people.” Starting immediately, passport applicants will be able to self-select their gender as either “M” or “F” and will not require medical certification if their selected gender does not match the gender listed on other identity documents such as a birth certificate. The Secretary noted that the process for adding a third gender marker is “technologically complex and will take time for extensive systems updates.”

Currently, twenty U.S. states and the District of Columbia allow citizens to enter either M, F, or X to mark their gender on their driver’s licenses, with New York and Illinois having passed laws that would make gender-neutral markers available in the coming years. Today’s statement fulfills one of Joe Biden’s campaign promises, that transgender and nonbinary persons should have the option to change their gender marker to F, M, or X on their government-issued documentation.

The statement comes more than a year after the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the State Department to reconsider its denial of an accurate passport to U.S. Navy veteran Dana Zzyym. Zzyym is intersex and nonbinary, and filed a lawsuit that spanned three different presidential administrations before the Tenth Circuit issued its decision. Zzyym said in a statement through Lambda Legal that they are “optimistic” that they “will soon receive an accurate passport. One that reflects who [they] truly [are].”

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