Mexico issues first non-binary passport to Ociel Baena

Mexico has issued its first non-binary passport on May 17. Photo / Unsplash

Ociel Baena became the first person in Mexico to receive a non-binary passport last week.

The passport was issued on May 17, to coincide with the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.

This is the first non-binary passport to be issued in Mexico. According to a tweet by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, it was issued in a municipality north of Mexico City, called Naucalpan.

Several representatives from the Foreign Ministry and one of Mexico’s first trans federal legislators, Salma Luévano Luna, attended the ceremony, which Ebard described as “a great leap for the freedom and dignity of people”.

Primer pasaporte no-binario de México entregado hoy en Naucalpan, un gran salto por la libertad y dignidad de las personas pic.twitter.com/NCZAPS7nt4

— Marcelo Ebrard C. (@m_ebrard) May 17, 2023

Baena, an activist and magistrate was pictured receiving their passport, sporting a black suit and red lipstick.

Mexico has become one of more than a dozen countries that allow national-level non-binary identity documents, according to Human Rights Watch. Only two other South American countries do the same; Argentina and Colombia.

👉🏻 @ocielbaena, magistrade del Tribunal Electoral de Aguascalientes, fue la primera persona en recibir su pasaporte no binario.#OnceNoticias tiene la información. 🔻https://t.co/acMoJF1kJf pic.twitter.com/bAaXID54eq

— Once Noticias (@OnceNoticiasTV) May 18, 2023

The US is one such country. Since April 2022, Americans can choose “X” as a gender option for their identity documentation. This move was prompted by a federal lawsuit filed by Colorado resident Dana Zzyym, who consequentially received the first passport with an “X” gender mark in October 2021.

According to the ministry, non-binary passports will be available at its embassies and consulates across the rest of the world from July this year.

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In 2012, without public announcement, New Zealand started allowing people to state their gender as male, female or “X” (indeterminate/unspecified) on their passports.

This is done with a simple declaration and without the need to change their birth certificates or citizenship records.

A Passport Office spokesman told the Herald that gender changes on passports could now be made by a statutory declaration. This asks people to state their preferred sex or gender identity and how long they have had that identity.