Aussie passports to offer third gender option

Australia starts offering passport holders the option of indeterminate gender.

Travel Insurance News - 15/09/2011

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Australian passport holders are getting a third option when it comes to selecting their gender. In addition to the traditional choices of male and female, a third option – indeterminate – is being added under new guidelines aimed at eliminating discriminatory practices against people who are transgender and intersex.

The move was announced today by the Australian government. In addition to the third gender option, transgender people will be able to select male or female, as long as their choices are supported by a statement from a doctor.

People who are not completely biologically male or female, now have the option of having their passports show their gender as ‘X’. Transgender people, who see their own sex as not aligned with their biology, cannot choose ‘X’ but will be allowed to choose male or female, as long as they have a supporting statement from a doctor.

Before this development, Australians could only choose between ‘male’ or ‘female’ when getting passports. In addition, anybody who had not undergone gender-reassignment surgery, was not allowed to change the gender shown on their passport.

Last year, the USA stopped requiring surgical sex change as a condition for transgender people who wanted to change the gender shown on their passports. The existing specifications governing machine-readable passports set by the International Civil Aviation Organization allow countries that meet the specifications to introduce gender ‘X’ on their passports.

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