UK: Case for genderless passports to be made at UK Supreme Court today

UK: Case for genderless passports to be made at UK Supreme Court today

People should be allowed to declare their gender as X on their passports, the UK Supreme Court will hear today.

Christie Elan-Cane, 63, who identifies as non-gendered, will ask the court to declare the ban on the practice to be in breach of human rights.

Last year the Court of Appeal ruled that the policy requiring British passports to have a male or female gender category did not fall foul of Elan-Cane’s rights. The court acknowledged, however, that the European Convention on Human Rights acknowledged a right to respect for non-gendered identity.

Eraldo d’Atri, senior associate at Clifford Chance, the firm representing Elan-Cane, said: “This case raises important questions regarding the right to respect for individuals’ identity, specifically for those who identify as neither or not exclusively male or female.”

He added that access to X passports was “crucial for the protection of the human rights of this demographic who are otherwise forced to use a passport which misrepresents their identity”.

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