Judges refuse activist’s appeal for third gender category on passports

A CAMPAIGNER has lost an appeal for a third non-binary gender category to be introduced on passports.

However, a Court of Appeal judge has suggested that such a change might be possible in the future.

Christie Elan-cane identifies as nonbinary and believes that the UK’S current passport application process, which requires individuals to indicate whether they are male or female, is “inherently discriminatory”.

The activist took the case to court in a bid to fight for passports to include an “X” category which would represent an unspecified gender for such individuals.

However, yesterday senior judges at the Court of Appeal dismissed the case and ruled that the UK does not have to produce gender-neutral passports,

The court’s three judges, led by Lady

Justice King, even went one step further and warned that if the international trend towards more widespread official recognition of non-binary identity continues, then at some point in the future, the Home Office would be forced to add a third gender category.

A denial of an X category, for example, would then therefore constitute a breach of human rights.

Dismissing the appeal, which was contested by the Home Office, the judges said: “The court finds that the ‘X’ marker is just one part of a bigger picture that requires a coherent structured approach across all areas where the issue of non-binary gender arises.

“There is not yet any consensus across Council of Europe states in relation to either the broad issue of the recognition of non-binary people, or the narrow issue of the use of X markers on passports, although there is momentum within Europe in relation to how the status of non-binary people is to be recognised and the time may come when the fair balance has shifted.”

The judges added: “In relation to the alleged discrimination under Articles 8 and 14, the court found that the question of whether the difference in treatment was objectively justified would result in the same answer as that in relation to Article 8 [of the Human Rights Act] on private life, and that the current policy in relation to the issuing of

X marked passports does not, therefore, amount to unlawful discrimination under Article 14. “

In 2019, Canada introduced genderneutral passports with an X category. Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Malta, New Zealand, Pakistan, India and Nepal already have a third category.

In a statement after the judgment was handed down, Elan-cane said the decision was “devastating”.