WHY DO WE EVEN HAVE THESE MARKERS ON PASSPORTS?

The “x" designation, she said, could force unwanted conversations for people who aren’t prepared to have their gender discussed, and even cause legal problems in destinations with fewer protections for members of the LGBTQ community, she said.

Allowing the option on the form also does nothing to prepare airport staff to handle non-binary travellers appropriately.

Kennedy said Canada should focus on the big picture when assessing how to handle gender questions.

“Why do we even have these markers on our passports? That’s the big question,” she said. “Canada needs to do more work to lobby (international bodies) around gender markers in general on passports.”

The shift toward non-binary passports is the latest in the federal government’s sweeping revisions on the treatment of gender in official policy.

A human rights settlement in January saw the government agree to offer a gender-neutral option on applications for social insurance numbers. At the time, trans activists hailed the settlement as setting the stage for the approach to be applied more broadly.

Since then, the senate has passed Bill C-16, which bans discrimination on the basis of gender identity or gender expression.

In announcing the new passport rules on Thursday, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said the move was part of an initiative to make all governmentissued documents gender neutral.