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

Mexico issued its first non-binary passport on Wednesday in honor of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, which falls annually on May 17.

The passport was issued in Naucalpan, a municipality north of Mexico City, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard confirmed on Twitter. Ebrard called the occasion “a big step for human freedom and dignity”.

The passport was presented to Ociel Baena, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs called. The ceremony was attended by State Department officials and various other officials, including Salma Luévano Luna, one of Mexico’s first transfederal lawmakers.

“In the context of #DiaContraLaLGTBIfobia, we reaffirm our support for sexual diversity. All rights must be guaranteed for all identities. No more hate speech; Diversity enriches and thrives,” the State Department wrote on Twitter to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.

According to a video on the department’s TikTok page, department officials in more than 40 countries and US states commemorated the day with flags and signs.

More than a dozen countries allow non-binary documents nationally, Human Rights Watch said in February. The U.S. Department of State has begun offering the “X” (or unspecified) gender option on ID documents April 2022.

The State Department first previewed the change after Dana Zzyym, an intersex and non-binary Colorado resident, filed a federal lawsuit in 2016. The activist and US Navy veteran filed a lawsuit after years of lobbying the State Department to offer an “X” option for gender marking on US passport applications. Zzyym, recognized by Lambda Legal in his lawsuit, receive the first passport of this kind in October 2021.

Mexico will start issuing non-binary passports at its consulates and embassies in the US, Canada and the rest of the world in July, the ministry said.

Nicole Sganga contributed to the coverage.