Passport to acceptance? LGBTQ+ travellers wary about gender-neutral IDs
gaytimes.co.ukStudent Mars Proppe, who identifies as non-binary – neither male nor female, hoped one day to have a passport marked “X” for gender.
But when Iceland’s government made that choice possible a year ago, Proppe had second thoughts. While more than a dozen countries have introduced gender-neutral travel documents, some non-binary and transgender people are reluctant to use them because they fear facing discrimination or bureaucratic hurdles when travelling abroad. “I have yet to go and get my master’s degree and hopefully travel through the world, and that’s not something I think I can do … if I have an ‘X’ on my passport.
At least I can’t do it really safely,” said Proppe, 23, who studies astrophysics. “I plan on getting the marker when I’m older and when the world is hopefully more generally friendlier towards non-binary people,” the student added.
LGBTQ+ rights campaigners have applauded moves by governments from Iceland to the United States to issue gender-neutral passports amid growing awareness and acceptance of diverse gender identities and intersex people.
