The Colombian passport contains the ‘X’ option for non-binary people

Colombia broadcasts next Thursday a passport with gender option “X”for people who identify as not binaryreports the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of this South American country, which joins some in the region.

“The State Department recognizes gender diversity with the ability to register in your passport non-binary sex. This will be identified in the passports with an ‘X’,” Andrea Garzón, passport coordinator, said in a video on the agency’s official website.

“From now on, Colombians can exercise this right in Bogotá passport offices, governorships and in foreign consulates,” he added. The Colombian legal system ordered in March 2022 to include this the ‘non-binary’ category on identity documentswhich until then only considered the ‘male’ and ‘female’ options.

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After the decision 26 people have processed this change to be recognized with the ‘non-binary’ category on their identity card and birth certificate, according to register figures until December 2022.

Colombia, with a population of about 50 million, joins a number of countries offer the same possibility for an unspecified gender. At least a dozen countries allow non-binary passports, according to Human Rights Watch. Australia has been doing this since 2011, and then others such as Pakistan, Nepal, New Zealand and Germany joined. In the Americas, there are Argentina, the United States, Canada and most recently Mexico, with the first passports with category “X” being issued in May 2023. (JO)

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