(LifeSiteNews) – The U.S.A. is now issuing passports which allow individuals to select ‘X’ as their gender.
The U.S. State Department announced the new passports yesterday, saying that the new option is for “non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons.”
“We look forward to offering this option to all routine passport applicants once we complete the required system and form updates in early 2022,” Department spokesman Ned Price said in an official statement published yesterday.
“I want to reiterate, on the occasion of this passport issuance, the Department of State’s commitment to promoting the freedom, dignity, and equality of all people – including LGBTQI+ persons,” he added.
The news follows an announcement made in July by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the State Department was “moving towards adding a gender marker for non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons” for passport procedures and other government documentation.
“The department has begun moving towards adding a gender marker for non-binary, intersex and gender non-conforming persons applying for a passport or Consular Reports of Birth Abroad,” Blinken stated.
The U.S. State Department has refused to identify the recipient of the first LGBT-friendly passport.
However, their announcement follows the State Department’s lengthy legal battle with Dana Zzyym, a Colorado resident who identifies as intersex.
In 2015, Zzyym’s passport application was rejected for failing to identify Zzyym as either male or female. Although identifying as a male while serving in the US Navy, Zzym began to self-identify as ‘inter-sex’ while studying at Colorado State University. In 2018, Colorado judge R. Brooke Jackson ordered the U.S. State Department not to withhold the requested passport from Zzym. According to former nonbinary activist Jamie Shupe, Zzym’s legal team used Shupe’s own “nonbinary court order” to convince the federal judge. Shupe regrets his former activism, saying that his “sex change to nonbinary was a medical and scientific fraud.” Like Shupe, Zzym attempted to live as a woman before deciding to identify as non-binary.
Reggie Greer, the White House Senior Advisor on LGBTQ+ Engagement, shared a statement by Jessica Stern, the US special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights on Twitter. Stern celebrated the announcement of the gender-neutral passport, staying “When a person obtains identity documents that reflect their true identity, they live with greater dignity and respect.”
U.S. Special Envoy Jessica Stern on the @StateDept‘s issuance of the first U.S. passport with an “X” gender marker: “When a person obtains identity documents that reflect their true identity, they live with greater dignity and respect.” #LGBTQI+ https://t.co/BdBQ736w6x
— Reggie Greer (@ReggieGreer46) October 27, 2021
Despite the insistence that indulging gender-confused individuals’ chosen “identity” is essential to their health and happiness, gender confusion’has been linked to a variety of long-term mental and emotional issues, including higher suicide rates.