Canada considers genderless passports
Canadians may soon be able to choose a non-gender-specific category when applying for passports.
According to Canada's National Post, the agency Passport Canada is currently reviewing its policy on whether citizens have to display a choice of either male of female on their passport.
Currently Canadians can only change the sex on their passports if they have undergone gender-reassignment surgery. Those in transition can obtain temporary passports in their new gender, but only if they furnish proof they will undergo surgery within 12 months.
Passport Canada spokeswoman Béatrice Fénelon told the National Post “the policy regarding transgender people is still under review.”
It is suspected Canada may follow the example of Australia which adopted "genderless" passports in September 2011.
Under Australian regulations, people can choose which gender is displayed on their passports without the need for surgery, or they can choose to have neither gender displayed; a statement from a medical practitioner is all that's required.
Sally Goldner of trans advocacy organisation TransGender Victoria told gaynewsnetwork “Any documentation policy needs to consider all situations and be based on self-determination.”
“To use myself as an example, as a non-op trans woman I want an F on all my documentation not an X,” she said.
“So I don’t believe the proposed Canadian policy is quite the same as our [Australian] policy. But I think it would be better than rigid surgery-based binaries that just use M and F and - to use me as an example again - would probably see me travel on a passport with an “M”: a recipe for trouble.”
Gina Wilson, president for intersex organisation OII Australia told gaynewsnetwork the Canadian system could be an improvement over the Australian system if they allowed people to leave their gender unspecified rather than using a third “X” category.
“Our policy is to oppose any policy that might create a third sex. Such systems have marginalised and disadvantaged intersex wherever they have been used,” Wilson said.
“There are no sensible reasons to have sex specified on passports just as there is no reason to have that specified on other documents save to entrench sexist policies and paradigms,” Wilson continued.
“The Canadian proposal allows all people to remain silent on the matter of their sex.”
Wilson said OII Australia would continue to push for the “X” category to be opened up to all Australians who choose not to specify their gender.
“X does not indicate a third sex. It indicates ‘not specified’,” Wilson said.
“In that it gives anyone who has it the right to remain silent on the question “what sex are you” and the opportunity to opt out of the sex binary.”
The existing Canadian system has been criticised by advocates as excluding those in transition or intersex who are unable or unwilling to undergo expensive, invasive surgery and hormone treatments.
The issue has become doubly important since changes last year to Canada's Aeronautics Act. Under new guidelines, airlines are not permitted to seat a passenger if “the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents.”
Without changes to the passport regulations, this would effectively bar some Canadian trans and intersex people from air travel altogether.
- Tags: Blaze, Canada, MCV, Passport, Queensland Pride, Sally Goldner, SX, Transgender
Comments (4)
Ron has misquoted me my post to him was :
Hi to you all.
The Canadian proposal is better than the current Australian one. To qualify in Australia one has to have medical certification that one is of an unspecified sex. This technically allows anyone who can get such a letter from their doctor ( a doctor) to qualify.
OII Australia sought to have this available to all people simply on application.
Our policy is to oppose any policy that might create a third sex. Such systems have marginalised and disadvantaged Intersex wherever they have been used ( see the policy on our web site wwwoiiaustralia.com )
It is our view that having male on documentation is more likely to advantage than disadvantage the holder of those documents and having female is more likely to disadvantage than advantage. A third sex will certainly further marginalise already marginalised people as it does in the subcontinent etc etc.. ( see Hijra )
We still seek to have X extended so that it is readily available for all people. X does not indicate a third sex, It indicates not specified. In that it gives anyone who has it the right to remain silent on the question “what sex are you” and the opportunity to opt out of the sex binary.
There are no sensible reasons to have sex specified on passports just as there is no reason to have that specified on other documents save to entrench sexist policies and paradigms. ( medical documentation has some exceptions and reasons to know what physical parts a person might have )
The Canadian proposal allows all people to remain silent on the matter of their sex. Red herrings such as security and identity theft have been well canvased . There is little record of people dressing up in ways that would make them appear as “opposite” sex so as to enable them to commit fraud or crime, where those instances have happened the facility of makeup and forgery enabled that and would continue to do so irrespective of sex markers. Indeed it is arguable that X would improve security because assumptions around the sex of a person would be less likely and so equal consideration around identity would be given to all. That is the notion that women are less likely to be a terrorist , for instance, would be undermined by a passport that does not describe the sex of the holder so only standard and through checking could be applied .
It is my view; that because of social attitudes not to many people would take this up initially , however when the advantages , especially for woman , are realised more and more would take it up. The advantage being that if we are not to be judged on our sex we would be judged on some other criteria and as ML King might say that might be “on the content of our character”
Not all people who are Intersex would want an X on their documents. Given the opprobrium Intersex suffer and the normalisation we are subjected to there are obvious reasons why an Intersex person would want to “fit in “ the sex binary. As Intersex activism achieves rights and visibility for Intersex people more and more are likely to claim the right to truthfully describe themselves and see that truthfully reflected on official documents. Intersex are not part way between male and female rather we have a constellation of parts that sees as different to being wholly male or female .
Because our oppression comes from being other than male or female and we are only knowable ( apparently) in reference to those two terms we are better off to remain of unspecified sex rather than to consolidate the current sexist paradigms by adding more and more intricate categories that can only reasonable be explained in terms of marking one out. Once marked we know marginalisation follows.
Me
Gina
I seek a correction Ron I said nothing about traveling on a pasport with an M on it .
There was a drafting/editing error in the article where a quote was inserted in the wrong position so it appeared to be quoting you. That error has been corrected and the quote inserted in the right place. We apologise for any offence or misunderstanding this may have caused.
Sincerely
Ron Hughes
Stuart I was in Hong Kong about two weeks ago with the in-laws, and girls had to walk through the boys toilet to get to the girls in a shopping centre. They went pass the urinal and no person blinked. I did think of you-sorry to say I blinked. This was not usual in Hong Kong, it was an older part, I heard though in Japan there is nudity in many public baths. It is interesting clothes have gone through and evolution of elaborate ceremony, to now hiding everything, and we now have laws to match it. Our government is saying to be ashamed of the way you were born. We have laws that make your looks a punishment. If God wanted us clothed all the time, he would have given all of us fur, not just the bears.
A ray of sunshine for transgender and intersex people. As a nudist, I can't even leave the house, yet alone board a plane, and must remain forever in the closet.