The United States has issued its first passport with an “X” gender designation, and expects to be able to offer the option more broadly next year, the State Department said Wednesday.
The U.S. special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights, Jessica Stern, called the moves “historic and celebratory”, saying they bring the government documents in line with the “lived reality” that there is a “wider spectrum of human characteristics than is reflected in the previous two designations”.
“When a person obtains identity documents that reflect their true identity, they live with greater dignity and respect,” Stern said.
The department did not announce to whom the passport was issued. A department official declined to say whether it was for Dana Zzyym, an Colorado resident who has been in a legal battle with the department since 2015, saying the department does not usually discuss individual passport applications because of privacy concerns.
Zzyym (pronounced Zimm) was denied a passport for failing to check male or female on an application. According to court documents, Zzyym wrote “intersex” above the boxes marked “M” and “F” and requested an “X” gender marker instead in a separate letter.
The State Department announced in June that it was moving toward adding a third gender marker for nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people but said it would take time because it required extensive updates to its computer systems. A department official said the passport application and system update with the “X” designation option still need to be approved by the Office of Management and Budget, which approves all government forms, before they can be issued.
The department now also allows applicants to self-select their gender as male or female, no longer requiring them to provide medical certification if their gender did not match that listed on their other identification documents.
The United States joins a handful of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Nepal and Canada, in allowing its citizens to designate a gender other than male or female on their passports.
Stern said her office planned to talk about the United States’ experience with the change in its interactions around the world and she hopes that might help inspire other governments to offer the option.
(AP)
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20 Responses
Climate change is a real thing. Just look at the crazy weather the world has been having lately…
The cause of it has been up for debate.
All these “experts” are missing the real cause of climate change.
All one has to do is look at the first major climate change event in the history of the world.
The great Mabul (flood) in Noach’s time.
Rashi says that the reason Hashem (god) changed the laws of nature and brought about the flood was because they (the people of the time) changed the laws of “nature” with their immoral acts…
The past number of years as the governments of the world shift towards more radical immoral views of the genders. Thereby changing the most basic universal definitions of nature… in return hashem is changing the way nature acts back to us… in more and more radical ways…
Hashem is putting the world on notice!
I would say that legalising same-sex marriage is (was?) Sedom. The ‘x box’ is just silliness.
YEP…..the דור המבול all over again.
Reb Tzoduk Hacohen zt”l writes in a couple of places in his seforim that בעיקבתא דמשיחא the
נשמות of the דור המבול will be מגולגל again
I wonder if ultimately this is such a bad thing. Of course, the reason it is being done is S’dom-like, but I would venture to say that it really isn’t anyone’s business whether I’m a biological male or female where passports are concerned. I think that when my passport comes up for renewal, I will use the X option…
Jessica Stern doesnt sound Irish to me, why do Jews always push this toeiva stuff?
What did you expect voting for these pigs
This is not so far off. We have 3 (or 4 )genders in the Gemara and Halacha. Besides for Zocher and Nekaiva we have Androginus (and Tumtum). This doesn’t mention if X can be used for assumed identities or confused people, although I’m it eventually will.
I hate when YW sticks its opinions in the title… Just report the news please.
Sedom had mishkav zachor, nothing to do with trans/intersex per se.
Also, intersex individuals aren’t clearly male or female. Chazal discuss this too.
The number of births with ambiguous genitals is in the range of 0.02% to 0.05%.
That’s up to 1 in 2000!
I don’t see why we should care about what they (or anybody) put in their passport.
On a side note, I wonder what frum families do in this situation.
Let’s ask Garry S. from Passaic, NJ. Or Ed Koch or former NJ Governor McGreevy, that BMG, Agudah and the VAAD said to vote for. They are all for Sedom and Gemorah.
If one identifies as a Tomato or a pumpkin, would the X do?
lakewoodbt, liberal Jews push for this like the millions of non-Jewish liberal pigs who do the same worldwide.
Why do you think Stern is Jewish? The name sounds German as well. It could also be that person’s mother was not Jewish even though his father’s family could originate from Jews.
What a fantastic way to get lynched in a foreign country! The incredible brilliance is mamash so great!
Only this was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquillity; yet she did not support the poor and the needy. Ezekiel 16:49
What about ‘vaccine passports’ – this is also Middos S’dom and is something we can more easily resist as well?!
Must be a slow news day or the headline editor did not get a good night’s sleep. The Supreme Court legalized same-gender marriage years ago and 17 states already allow an “X” for gender in driver’s licenses. Most major banks and professional services firms already have modified their job applications to allow for a “third” gender option or simply have stopped asking.
Doesn’t Yeshiva world support “science”??
Don’t you know, it is pure scientific fact that gender is not only male and female. Its researched, and top doctors say so!
This sick topic is so much more important to sleepy joe & obama & pelosi than reopening the Oil Pipeline in Pennsylvania & the American economy & the safety of our streets from looters & of our bridges from decay.
I wonder if other countries can deny entry to such passport holders.
nucha_deah:
Good job on the progressive talking points, they’d be proud.
Your ignorance and confusion aside, the reason you’re wrong is that the latter two categories you mentioned aren’t genders. They are categories of people who have birth defects and/or mutations which make it unclear to which gender they belong.
This minute minority of people does not establish a separate category of human for the rest of us.
What is the correct Benediction for the recipient of this passport:-
1) שלא עשני אשה
2) שעשני כרצונו
3) Both
Also how does the recipient of this passport get Bensched this Friday nite? Which ישימך? Which one or both?
Perverts.