Mexico issues first non-binary passport on International Day Against Homophobia

Mexico issued its first non-binary passport Wednesday in honor of Worldwide Day Towards Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, which takes place yearly on Could 17. 

The passport was issued in Naucalpan, a municipality north of Mexico Metropolis, International Minister Marcelo Ebrard confirmed on Twitter. Ebrard referred to as the event “a fantastic leap for the liberty and dignity of individuals.” 

The passport was given to Ociel Baena, Mexico’s International Ministry said. The ceremony was attended by representatives from the International Ministry and by varied different officers, together with Salma Luévano Luna, one in every of Mexico’s first trans federal legislators. 

“Inside the framework of #DiaContraLaLGTBIfobia, we recommend our assist for sexual variety. All rights should be assured for all identities. No extra hate speech; variety enriches and thrives,” the International Ministry wrote on Twitter concerning the Worldwide Day Towards Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia. 

Ministry staffers commemorated the day in additional than 40 international locations and U.S. states with flags and indicators, based on a video on the ministry’s TikTok web page. 

Greater than a dozen international locations permit for non-binary paperwork on the nationwide stage, Human Rights Watch said in February. The U.S. State Division began offering an “X” (or unspecified) gender possibility on identification paperwork in April 2022.  

The State Division first previewed the change after Dana Zzyym, an intersex and nonbinary resident of Colorado, filed a federal lawsuit in 2016. The activist and U.S. Navy veteran sued after years of lobbying the State Division to supply an “X” gender marker possibility on U.S. passport purposes. Zzyym, who was acknowledged by Lambda Authorized of their lawsuit, received the primary passport of its form in October 2021.  

Mexico will begin issuing non-binary passports at its consulates and embassies within the U.S., Canada, and the remainder of the world in July, the ministry mentioned. 

Nicole Sganga contributed to reporting.