Campaigner fails in UK gender-neutral passport case

Christie Elan-Cane said the application process falls foul of human rights law by failing to provide an “X” option.

The court, however, said the gender of applicants was “a biographical detail which can be used to confirm their identity”.

Elan-Cane tweeted: “THE UK GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIAL SYSTEM ARE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY - THIS IS NOT THE END - WE ARE GOING TO STRASBOURG.”

Gender-neutral passports are available in Argentina, Australia, the US, Denmark, Canada, India, Nepal, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Pakistan. Germany has introduced an intersex category.

President of the court, Lord Reed, said in his judgment that gender could be verified against birth, adoption or gender recognition certificates when confirming the identity of an applicant.

“It is therefore the gender recognised for legal purposes and recorded in those documents which is relevant,” he said.

The judge added that Elan-Cane’s desire for an “X” passport was trumped by other considerations, among them “maintaining a coherent approach across government”.

“There is no legislation in the United Kingdom which recognises a non-gendered category of individuals,” he said.

Lord Reed said legislation “across the statute book” assumes that all people can be categorised in two sexes or genders – “terms which have been used interchangeably”.