There is a petition on the UK Parliament website to legally recognise nonbinary as a gender – which would include an X marker on UK passports for nonbinary people.

@mynameistillian@plush.city @syhr@social.coop According to the ICAO standard, the sex field is mandatory but countries can just put X (or < in the MRZ, which is also the filler character) for unspecified:

Where an issuing State or organization does not want to identify the sex, the filler character (<) shall be used in
this field in the MRZ and an X in this field in the VIZ.

So there's nothing preventing them from effectively abolishing gender markers on passports by just putting X for everyone (which they should do)

@syhr U.S. ally here. Wish I could sign.

@noisytoot @mynameistillian This is the way

@anneguisinherba

@celesteh technically, all listed formats support «unspecified» option for gender, either X or filler character <...

@syhr @sunflowerinrain

@syhr maybe edit to add that one has to be a British citizen or resident in Britain? I wish it all the success in the world, but it is disappointing to click just to see that one can’t sign

@Starcross @syhr Yes, it'll be cross-referenced against the Electoral Register. I don't imagine you'd be likely to fool them, to be honest.

@alexia @mynameistillian @columbduffy @syhr I'd guess that too. This is the current process that the Home Office use when issuing a passport to a person ("customer"). Since there is no non-binary option for a Gender Recognition Certificate, a British person applying for a passport for the very first time must use the gender that they were assigned at birth.

Ask the customer to tell us what their current gender (male or female) is. This
will be either their gender:

• they were assigned at birth
• in their last British passport
• that was recognised by a Gender Recognition Certificate

@columbduffy @mynameistillian @syhr The UK Home Office will already issue a second passport to British citizens who are deemed at particular risk for traveling to a certain country, or who would be prevented from entering a certain country with their current passport (for instance those who need to travel to Israel despite having already visited Iran).

The UK adopting enbyphobic legislation is a genuinely plausible eventuality, and in such a case, being on the record as non-binary would be dangerous. But if the UK doesn't become actively hostile to non-binary people and the UK starts to allow a non-binary gender marker on new passports, I'm sure they would issue secondary passports (with a binary gender marker) for those people just as with any other group facing difficulty traveling.

@radioclash @mynameistillian @syhr So you can get a passport without any gender marker in the UK? If it's a choice, roughly what percent of people (of all genders, cis and trans) choose to display a gender on their passport?

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr No you can't get a passport without a gender marker in the UK. That's what the petition is asking for.

@sunflowerinrain @syhr Unfortunately the only mechanism that the UK has currently for changing the gender marker on a passport involves the holder of said passport obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). It's already hard enough for trans people to get a GRC, so I don't think it'll be possible for cis people to change their gender marker any time soon. The GRC process is also very invasive so there's little chance a cis person would be willing to lie in order to get one, IMHO.

@radioclash @mynameistillian @syhr OK, so then under what's being proposed, non-binary people would have to choose either to display a binary gender that is inaccurate or to mark themselves for potential persecution, while cis and binary trans people also have to carry a marker that may be used to discriminate against them. Why put genders on passports in the first place? What purpose does it serve?

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr I agree passports should without your AGAB..

But sadly they aren't. Same goes for birth certificates.

What is your point?

@sirjoho @syhr @sunflowerinrain Absolutely true, but a simple gender marker doesn't come close to providing enough information for a medical emergency. There was an attempt to introduce an electronic card that would contain (or provide access to) one's medical records about twenty years ago, but that was abandoned after it went embarrassingly over-budget.

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr saying you are non-binary publicly ANYWHERE can be used against you.

But some choose to be open about it, like myself. And some choose stealth which is their choice.

Why not have a choice? If we have to have genders on there. But I bet asking for the AGAB on passports would NOT go down well. Try it.

@radioclash @mynameistillian @syhr That listing genders on identity documents only institutionalizes discrimination and the practice should be ended rather than modified. It would make a lot of people's lives easier not to have to worry about it.

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr surely that's the point of an X marker? Anyone - including cis people - can choose to opt out.

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr but if you're wanting to destroy the gender binary on all documents....I agree, but good luck with that. This is the first step - if you got a lot of people opting for X then they might realise how ridiculous it is.

But to say the real world will go from gender on passports to none is kind of Tumblr Utopian thinking.

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr the fact at the start of this you didn't even know what the situation was in the UK makes me wonder if this is a good faith argument at all?

Like this is for UK people to debate and decide....