Things have improved, yes. But they also became very, very bad. Could visibility, which will help confirm transgender, intersex and non-binary people in our identities, also expose us to more harassment, discrimination and prejudice? In November 2018, two non-binary people from the province of Mendoza were the first to receive an IDENTITY document and a genderless birth certificate. [20] In early 2019, trans activist Lara María Bertolini was allowed to change her official gender to the non-binary transfeminine label “travesti femininity” (Spanish: femineidad travesti) through a court ruling that was seen as an important milestone for the transvestite movement. Judge Myriam Cataldi held that the Gender Identity Act was applicable to the Bertolini case, citing the law`s definition of “gender identity” as follows: “the inner and individual experience of gender as each person feels it, which may or may not correspond to the gender assigned at birth, including personal experience of the body.” [21] Non-binary employees should feel comfortable expressing themselves in the workplace without fear of harassment or discrimination. As the legal landscape continues to evolve, employers must be aware of the needs of their non-binary employees and continue to take steps to promote inclusive and diverse workplaces. If you have any questions about this, please contact your fisher Phillips lawyer. California`s gender recognition law will end the requirement for Californians to prove they have undergone treatment before changing sex in their legal documents. [8] It also provides that the Clerk of the State shall issue, without a court order, new birth certificates reflecting a requested sex change to individuals, provided that the person applies for and submits an affidavit. [9] The affidavit would require applicants to “confirm, under penalty of perjury, that the application for sex change to (female, male, non-binary) is intended to match the person`s legal sex to the person`s gender identity and is not made for fraudulent purposes.” [10] You don`t need to understand what it means for someone to be non-binary to respect it. Some people haven`t heard much about non-binary genders or have trouble understanding them, and that`s okay.
But identities that some people don`t understand still deserve respect. Recently, California became the first U.S. state to include a non-binary gender option in state law that allows residents to list non-binary as their sex on official documents such as birth certificates, driver`s licenses, and state-issued identification. [1] California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 179, the Gender Recognition Act, on October 15, 2017. [2] The law aims to ensure that intersex, transgender and non-binary people fully recognize their exact gender identity. [3] The signing of the bill sparks speculation about the future of gender designation in U.S. federal documents and whether non-binary gender identification makes people a target of harassment. Human Rights Watch filed an amicus letter in Elan-Cane`s case, noting that a 2018 Government Equalities Office survey of more than 100,000 LGBT+ people in the UK found that 7 percent of respondents identified as non-binary. Among transgender respondents, fifty-two percent were non-binary, and many told survey respondents that they felt aggrieved by the lack of non-binary sex markers. As they put it, “Every time I fill out a form, with a few notable exceptions, I`m forced to choose a binary genre and title, which is fake and annoying… When governments commit to recognizing the rights of transgender citizens and defending their dignity, they should recognize the identity of those who do not identify as women or men, rather than forcing those citizens to live in disagreement with their documents.
At least ten countries allow people to opt for an “X” gender marker in at least some circumstances, although progress has often required lengthy court battles. In some cases, courts have only used “X” sex markers for intersex people — people born with chromosomes, gonads, sexual organs, or genitals different from those considered typical of girls or boys — but they have not extended this recognition to non-binary people who are not intersex. Such decisions are anachronistic rooted in the principle that sexual markers should reflect biology or parts of the body. In June, the Netherlands issued a directive that removed gender marks from its national identity documents, although they remain on birth certificates. While some countries, including Germany, have already issued identity papers without a gender or gender mark, the Netherlands appears to be the first country to remove these marks as a deliberate step towards promoting the inclusion of transgender and non-binary people. Advocacy efforts to remove gender characteristics from documents should be aware of the potential need for alternative measures to prosecute and prevent discrimination based on sex. In some European countries without sex characteristics on identity documents, authorities can search for a person`s officially registered sex marker in the civil registry if deemed necessary. But as the number of countries that allow “X” designations increases, the shift from two to three recognized genders will strengthen the investigation into the official purpose of capturing and locking people in each sex. .