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Male, female or X? It's all up to you
Source: Agencies |
September 16, 2011, Friday
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AUSTRALIAN passports will now have three gender options - male, female and indeterminate - under new guidelines to remove discrimination against transgender and intersex people, the government said yesterday.
Intersex people, who are biologically not entirely male or female, will be able to list their gender on passports as "X."
Transgender people, whose perception of their own sex is at odds with their biology, will be able to pick whether they are male or female if their choice is supported by a doctor's statement. Transgender people cannot pick X.
Previously, gender was a choice of only male or female, and people were not allowed to change their gender on their passport without having a sex-change operation. The US dropped the surgery prerequisite for transgender people's passports last year.
Any country that complies with the International Civil Aviation Organization's specifications for machine-readable passports can choose to introduce gender X.
Australian Senator Louise Pratt, whose partner was born female and is now a man, said the reform was a major improvement for travelers.
Pratt said: "X is really quite important because there are people who are genetically ambiguous and were probably arbitrarily assigned as one sex or the other at birth. It is a really important recognition of people's human rights that they can choose to have their sex as 'indeterminate'."
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the new guidelines removed discrimination.
He said: "This amendment makes life easier and significantly reduces the administrative burden for sex and gender-diverse people who want a passport that reflects their gender and physical appearance."
Intersex people, who are biologically not entirely male or female, will be able to list their gender on passports as "X."
Transgender people, whose perception of their own sex is at odds with their biology, will be able to pick whether they are male or female if their choice is supported by a doctor's statement. Transgender people cannot pick X.
Previously, gender was a choice of only male or female, and people were not allowed to change their gender on their passport without having a sex-change operation. The US dropped the surgery prerequisite for transgender people's passports last year.
Any country that complies with the International Civil Aviation Organization's specifications for machine-readable passports can choose to introduce gender X.
Australian Senator Louise Pratt, whose partner was born female and is now a man, said the reform was a major improvement for travelers.
Pratt said: "X is really quite important because there are people who are genetically ambiguous and were probably arbitrarily assigned as one sex or the other at birth. It is a really important recognition of people's human rights that they can choose to have their sex as 'indeterminate'."
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the new guidelines removed discrimination.
He said: "This amendment makes life easier and significantly reduces the administrative burden for sex and gender-diverse people who want a passport that reflects their gender and physical appearance."
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