Mexico introduced a non-binary passport, allowing people to write their gender as 'x' instead of male or female

Thousands attend Mexico's 2022 Pride March in Mexico City.

Luis Barron / Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images

• Mexico launched a non-binary passport, allowing people to select "X" instead of male or female.
• Mexico joins 16 other countries, including the United States, that allow non-binary passports.
• Mexico's foreign minister said non-binary people have "the right to identity."

Mexico has granted non-binary citizens the option to check "X" on their passports.

It is the country's first passport that doesn't require its citizens to pick a gender marker of either male or female, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrared announced last week.

"Important changes always begin as cultural changes. Today's ceremony is going to change our culture and, therefore, our daily lives," Ebrared said at a ceremony marking the change. "What we are doing has to do with a community that has the right to identity."

The announcement came last week on the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia. Mexico joined some 16 other countries that allow a non-binary option on passports, a press release from the Mexican government said. 

"Today, we are advancing along with other progressive countries," said Carlos Candelaria, the director general of Passport Offices. 

Other countries that offer non-binary passports include the United States, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, and Nepal.

"We endorse our support for sexual diversity," Ebrared said in a statement, according to The Pink News. "All rights must be guaranteed for all identities. No more hate speech – diversity enriches and flourishes."

The government invited Mexican activist Ociel Baena to receive the first non-binary passport in the nation. 

—Marcelo Ebrard C. (@m_ebrard) May 17, 2023

 

Jaime Vázquez Bracho, the director general of Consular Services, said the country was protecting human rights.

"In 2022, when we issued the first birth certificates at our consulates, the Foreign Secretary promised to work on issuing non-binary documents," Bracho said in the press release. "Today, we have the honor of seeing the Foreign Secretary deliver the first non-binary passport." 

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