On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of State said America had issued its first passport with an ‘X’ gender marker, designed to offer intersex, genderqueer and gender-nonconforming individuals a designation, more broadly early next year, other than female or male on their travel document.

The State Department also continues to work together with US government agencies to make sure as smooth a journey experience as possible for all citizens, irrespective of their sex identity.

Antony Blinken, State Secretary, proclaimed in June that the X gender designation would be given as an option on US passports, following other nations, including Australia, India, Germany, and Canada, which already offered a third gender marker on travel documents.

WASHINGTON (AP) — US official: US to issue its first passport with an ‘X’ gender marker for those who don’t identify as male or female.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 27, 2021

Moreover, Ned Price, the spokesperson for US State Department, stated that America was moving toward adding the X marker as an option for people applying for American passports or Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBAs).

Jessica Stern, the United States special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights, called the actions commemorative and momentous, saying they bring the administration documents in line with the lived reality that there’s a broad spectrum of human sex characteristics than is reflected in the two designations.

America Joins A Handful of Nations To Permit Passport Holders To Designate “X” Gender

Stern said that when a person acquires identity documents that show their true identity, they live with greater respect and dignity.

The State Department didn’t proclaim to whom the passport was issued. An official of the department declined to express whether it was for Dana Zzyym, an intersex United States Navy veteran, who had been in a lawful fight with the department since 2015, saying the department doesn’t typically discuss individual travel document applications because of privacy issues.

Zzyym was refused a passport for failing to mark female or male on an application. Zzyym wrote intersex above the “M and F” marked boxes and asked for an “X gender designation” instead of in a separate letter, according to court documents.

According to court filings, Zzyym, 63, was born with Ambiguous genitalia but was raised as a boy underwent many surgeries that failed to make Dana Zzyym appear wholly male. Moreover, Zzyym served in the US Navy as a male; however, he later came to recognize as intersex while studying and working at Colorado State University.

America joins Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Nepal to permit nationals to designate a gender other than two previously labeled female or male on their passports.