First ‘X-Gender’ US Passport is Issued

The U.S. State Department has issued its first gender-neutral passport.

The new ‘X’ gender designation is a landmark achievement for the LGBTQ community and for those who don’t identity as either male or female.

The Associated Press quoted U.S. special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights, Jessica Stern, who called it “historic.”

“When a person obtains identity documents that reflect their true identity, they live with greater dignity and respect,” Stern said.

The State Department declined to say who received the first passport.

The United States now joins Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Nepal as countries who offer passports with male, female and now X-gender designations.

Stern said she now plans on lobbying other countries around the world to also update their passports.

“We see this as a way of affirming and uplifting the human rights of trans and intersex and gender-nonconforming and nonbinary people everywhere,” she said.