Legal Recognition of Non-Binary Gender X
| Year | Country | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Australia | Among western nations, Australia may have been the first to recognize a third classification, following recognition of Alex MacFarlane as having indeterminate sex, reported in 2003. Government policy between 2003 and 2011 was to issue passports with an 'X' marker to persons who could "present a birth certificate that notes their sex as indeterminate. The revised policy in 2011 stated that "sex reassignment surgery is not a prerequisite to issue a passport in a new gender. Birth or citizenship certificates do not need to be amended. The guidelines also clarify that the federal government collects data on gender, rather than sex. In March 2014, the Australian Capital Territory introduced an 'X' classification for birth certificates. |
| 2007 | Nepal | Nepal’s legal recognition of a third category began with a 2007 Supreme Court case in which the judge ordered the government to create a legal category for people who identify as neither male nor female. Official documents afford citizens three gender options: male, female, and "others". Crucially, the judgment dictated that the ability to get documents bearing a third gender should be based on “self-feeling.” That is to say: no tests, expert opinions, or other potentially humiliating adjudication should play a role in the process. |
| 2008 | New Zealand | New Zealand's tiny transgender community is celebrating a quiet change that allows people to change their gender on their passports by a simple declaration. The change allows people to state their gender as male, female or "X (indeterminate/unspecified), without the need to change their birth certificates or citizenship records. A Human Rights Commission report recommended in 2008 that people should have the right to change their gender on their passports and other documents. The law was changed in 2009 to allow changes from male to female or vice versa by a declaration from the Family Court, and a change from either gender to "X" by a statutory declaration. A Family Court declaration is still required for a male/female gender change on citizenship documents, but this policy is under review. On 17 July 2015, Statistics New Zealand introduced a new gender identity classification standard for statistical purposes. The classification has three categories: male, female, and gender diverse. Gender diverse can be further divided into four subcategories: gender diverse not further defined, transgender male to female, transgender female to male, and gender diverse not elsewhere classified. In March 2017, a Aotearoa/New Zealand and Australian community statement called for an end to legal classification of sex, stating that legal third classifications, like binary classifications, were based on structural violence and failed to respect diversity and a "right to self-determination". |
| 2009 | India | In 2009, India's Election Commission took a first step by allowing transgenders to choose their gender as "other" on ballot forms. 2014 - India’s Supreme Court has recognized a long-discriminated-against transgender group as a third gender, a decision designed to provide equal rights for hundreds of thousands of eunuchs and transgender people in the country. According to the court decision, state and federal governments will now allow transgenders to identify themselves on official documents, such as birth certificates, passports and driving licenses, as a third gender along with males and females. Any person who has undergone surgery to change his or her sex will be recognized as belonging to the gender of their choice said the court, adding that transgender people would have the same right to adopt children as other Indians. Transgenders will also be included in welfare schemes offered to other minority groups, and the government will provide public sector jobs, places in schools and colleges and medical care for them The ruling of the Supreme Court says the law only applies to transgender people and not to gays, lesbians or bisexuals. In December 2013, the Indian Supreme Court upheld a ban on decriminalizing homosexual sex. NOTE: As of 2018 homosexuality is still against the law and homophobia still prevails. |
| 2009 | Bangledesh | Transgenders - known variously as eunuchs or hijras - were given voting rights in Bangladesh in December 2009. According to a survey by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Bangladesh has a transgender population of around 10,000. 2013 - The Bangladeshi government approved 'transgender' as an official third gender, which will lead to the recognition of the rights of around 10,000 individuals who had previously been marginalised. In India, transgender individuals have to identify as male or female in order to vote or marry. "The eunuch will now be identified as gender beside male and female. They will mention their gender as eunuch in passport and other identity cards," Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, an official spokesman said. |
| 2009 | Pakistan | In 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan decided to recognise the basic rights of the transgender community by issuing them national identity cards as the “third sex.” Equal rights for transgender people, including the right to inherit property and assets, the right to vote and to be counted as a separate category in the country’s national census was also declared. According to Al Jazeera, Pakistan started allowing members of the trans community to identify themselves. Also, a new mosque inclusive of people with all gender and sexual identities will be constructed in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. 2017 - The government of Pakistan has taken the decision to start issuing passports with a separate gender category (X) for transgender citizens. Now the natives of Pakistan will be able to self-identify with the separate option, instead of just identifying with male or female sex. |
| 2013 | Germany | An "indeterminate" 'option' was made available for the birth certificates of intersex infants with ambiguous genitalia on 1 November 2013. On 8 November 2017, the Federal Constitutional Court released a press statement which is in favor of a positive third gender option instead of no entry. The ruling demands a third gender option to be introduced by 31 December 2018. It decisively points out that a third gender option must be based on gender identity, rather than biological sex, to be in conformance with the general right of personality of German basic law (Grundgesetz). They also recommend that it should be a single option besides male and female, which should include all gender identities that are neither male nor female. The exact wording is still to be determined, "divers" being one possible option that is mentioned, but this choice is left to the legislator. |
| 2014 | Denmark | The law gives any person who feels they belong to the other gender the right to change their official gender. There is a reflection period of 6 months after which you have to confirm that you still want to change your gender, and that you understand the consequences as they are mentioned in a letter from the authorities. This letter is about the rights that are linked to gender, eg. screening for breast cancer. If a person has previously applied to change their name, to have their gender in the passport marked with an X, or castration permit then the reflection period will be calculated from that date. Those who qualify for this have received letters from the authorities that they just need to phone in and confirm that they understand the consequences of the letter and then within a week they will receive a document with the new gender, which will allow them to change all their documents, e.g. passport, driving license etc. TGEU as other human rights groups have critiqued the law as being only available to those over 18 years of age. |
| 2015 | Malta | Citizens and residents of Malta are able to have their sex marked as the gender-neutral ‘X’ on their official documents, including passports, ID cards and residence permits. The option has technically been part of Maltese law since the Gender Identity Act passed in 2015, but has now finally come into force. People wishing to change the sex on their documents must take an oath in the presence of a notary, and send it - along with the standard application - to Identity Malta. |
| 2016 | Canada | In June 2016, the government of the province of Ontario announced changes to the way gender will be displayed on health cards and driver's licenses. Starting June 13, the Ontario health card no longer displays a sex designation. In early 2017, Ontario drivers will have the option to display "X" as a gender identifier on their driver's licenses. On August 31, 2017, Canada began allowing an observation to be added to passports requesting that the holder's gender should be read as "X", indicating that it is unspecified, though a gender of "M" or "F" had to be added as a gender for an undefined period to comply with legal requirements of other countries. On May 2, 2018, the first non-binary "X" birth certificate was issued. |