UK Supreme Court rejects gender-neutral passports

Such passports already exist in more than 11 countries

The UK Supreme Court has rejected a proposal for gender-neutral passports after a unanimous decision. The case put forward by Christie Elan-Cane - activist and non-gendered campaigner for over 30 years - was ultimately thrown out on Wednesday after the court ruled that gender is "a biographical detail which can be used to confirm their identity", multiple outlets reported.  Elan-Cane informed her followers of the decision on Twitter before going on to state that she will now take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. https://twitter.com/ChristieElanCan/status/1471059390182608898?s=20 Gender-neutral passports already exist in 11 countries: Argentina, Australia, the US, Canada, Denmark, India, Malta, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Pakistan all have gender-neutral passport options, and Germany has recently introduced an intersex category for documentation. Elan-Cane lost her initial case against the Home Office in December of 2019 before going on to lose an appeal in March of 2020. Lord Reed, president of the Supreme Court, said that the ruling simply reflected that gender recognition is not only checked against birth but is part of certification when it comes down to confirming an applicant's identity, adding that, in this instance: "gender recognised for legal purposes". He went on to say that Elan-Cane's interest in having an "X" passport was simply outweighed by other considerations, citing that the goal is "maintaining a coherent approach across government".

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