“Diversity enriches and flourishes”: Mexico issues its first non-binary passport
Mexico has issued its first ever non-binary passport. Unveiled at an event hosted by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, the ceremony held on 17 May, which is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia in the queer calendar, was attended by a number of representatives, including Salma Luévano Luna, one of Mexico’s first trans federal legislators. Magistrate and activist Jesus Ociel Baena was the first person to be given the passport.
In a statement, Ebrard said, “All rights must be guaranteed for all identities,” describing the event as a “great leap for the freedom and dignity of people”. Mexico now joins 15 other countries that include non-binary identities on documents at a national level, having previously handed out its first birth certificate with a non-binary gender marker back in February 2022. The change now means an ‘X’ appears under a person’s gender marker on passports and other official documentation, including driving licences. Alongside the recent ruling, Mexico has also taken steps to protect the transgender community within its laws.
Currently, half of the country’s 32 states have gender identity laws that make it easier for trans individuals to change their gender legally.
In 2019, Mexico’s Supreme Court also ruled that transgender people must be issued new birth certificates after undergoing gender-affirming procedures. “As the Supreme Court has argued in other cases, everyone has the right to define their own sexual and gender identity, and it is the state’s responsibility to guarantee this decision, which is reflected in different documents, mainly in the birth certificate,” the court said.
