Legal recognition of non-binary gender

In some countries, such classifications may only be available to intersex people, born with sex characteristics that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies.

Among western nations, Australia may have been the first to recognize a third classification, with Alex MacFarlane, who is intersex, receiving a passport with sex marked as indeterminate in 2003.

[11] Australian sociological research published in 2016 shows that 19% of 272 people born with atypical sex characteristics participating in the study selected an "X" or "other" option, while 52% are women, 23% men and 6% unsure.

Johannes Wahala, president of the Austrian Society For Sexologies and head of Beratungsstelle Courage advice center in Graz condemns these operations and wishes for the introduction of a third gender.

They also found that current law is not in contradiction to these requirements, and can be interpreted in a way that is conformant to the constitutional right of recognition of gender identity via Article 8 of the ECHR.

[15][16] In April 2019, Tasmania became the first state or territory in Australia to make sex or gender identifiers in birth certificates optional and providing for official definitions for 'sex' and 'gender' (only 'sex' was defined before the reforms).

[82][83] In November 2023, TJPR revoked non-binary recognition, establishing that the right to administrative replacement of first name and sex in civil registration does not cover the possibility of expanding genders, limited to “male” and “female”.

[87] In April 2017, a baby born in British Columbia, Searyl Atli Doty, became the first in the world known to be issued a health card with a gender-neutral "U" sex marker.

[89][90] Doty and seven other transgender and intersex people have filed a human rights complaint against the province, alleging that publishing gender markers on birth certificates is discriminatory.

[95] A ruling of the Third Family Court of Santiago, issued on April 25, 2022, ordered the Civil Registry and Identification Service to register a 17-year-old adolescent with non-binary gender on the birth certificate, being the first judicial resolution of its kind in the country.

In July 2022, the Thirteenth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals had ruled in favor of the request to rectify the birth certificate to recognize non-binary gender identity.

[99][100] In February 2022, the Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled that a non-binary person was entitled to a birth certificate from the Ninth Notary of Medellín and citizen's identity card from the National Civil Registry with the marker "no binario" or "NB" in the sex field on both.

[101][102] According to comment by Transgender Europe, Danish citizens (including Greenlandic- and Faroese nationals) have been issued passport with option 'X' upon application, without medical requirements.

Germany is thought to be the first European country that recognizes "indeterminate" sex on birth certificates, which is materialized by the absence of any gender marker, from November 2013.

[112] On 15 August 2018, the German government approved a draft law allowing a third gender option on birth certificates for babies who are not distinctly male or female.

[115] As such, non-intersex non-binary people have made use of this law to change their markers and names as personally trusted doctors approve and give out such a required note nevertheless.

[116] On 22 April 2020, the Federal Court of Justice ruled that in order to obtain nonbinary status, these persons must follow the procedure set out in the legislation on transsexuality which applies by analogy, after which they can also choose between "diverse" and no gender marker at all.

[117] On April 12, 2024, the Bundestag passed the Self-Determination Act (German: Gesetz über die Selbstbestimmung in Bezug auf den Geschlechtseintrag (SBGG)).

[119] In June 2019, the Icelandic Parliament voted 45–0 on a bill to implement a progressive "self-determination gender change model law", similar to numerous European and South American countries.

Often (somewhat misleadingly) called eunuchs in English, they may be born intersex or apparently male, dress in feminine clothes and generally see themselves as neither men nor women.

Indian photographer Dayanita Singh writes about her friendship with a Hijra, Mona Ahmed, and their two different societies' beliefs about gender: "When I once asked her if she would like to go to Singapore for a sex change operation, she told me, 'You really do not understand.

'"[125] Hijra social movements have campaigned for recognition as a third sex,[126] and in 2005, Indian passport application forms were updated with three gender options: M, F, and E (for male, female, and eunuch, respectively).

In November 2009, India agreed to list eunuchs and transgender people as "others", distinct from males and females, in voting rolls and voter identity cards.

Among the Gaddhi in the foothills of the Himalayas, some girls adopt a role as a sadhin, renouncing marriage, and dressing and working as men, but retaining female names and pronouns.

Our society often ridicules and abuses the Transgender community and in public places like railway stations, bus stands, schools, workplaces, malls, theatres, hospitals, they are sidelined and treated as untouchables, forgetting the fact that the moral failure lies in the society's unwillingness to contain or embrace different gender identities and expressions, a mindset which we have to change.Justice Radhakrishnan said that transgender people should be treated consistently with other minorities under the law, enabling them to access jobs, healthcare and education.

Leonne won a court case which meant that preventing someone from registering officially as gender neutral is a "violation of private life, self-determination and personal autonomy".

On 27 December 2007, the Supreme Court of Nepal issued a decision mandating that the government scrap all laws that discriminated based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity and establish a committee to study same-sex marriage policy.

[175] In March 2020, a judge ruled that the lack of nonbinary gender marker on UK-issued passports was lawful "for now", but noted that "if the international trend towards more widespread official recognition of "non-binary" identity continues, then at some future date, denial could constitute a breach of human rights.

The court's judgment ruled that the European Convention on Human Rights did not require states to issue an "X" option for passports and that there was "no legislation in the United Kingdom which recognises a non-gendered category of individuals."

[208] In September 2017, California passed legislation formally implementing a non-binary gender marker on birth certificates, driver's licenses, and state ID without requiring a physician's statement or court hearing,[210][212] effective January 1, 2019.