Residents in Argentina who identify as nonbinary, neither male nor female, will be allowed to mark “x” on their national identification documents and passports, officials announced on Wednesday.
So far, multiple countries, including New Zealand, Canada, and Australia, have already rolled out the option to identify as nonbinary on legal identification documents and cards. Argentina is the first country in South America to allow nonbinary residents to identify in a third gender category, the government said, according to multiple outlets.
“There are other identities besides that of man and woman, and they must be respected,” President Alberto Fernandez said during a press conference.
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Fernandez attended the conference in Buenos Aires, along with Minister of the Interior Eduardo de Pedro and Minister of Women, Gender, and Diversity Elizabeth Gomez Alcorta. The trio delivered the first three “x” format ID cards on Wednesday.
“The ideal will be when all of us are just who we are and no one cares about people’s gender,” Fernandez added. “This is a step we are taking, and I hope one day, we get to the point where IDs don’t say if someone is a man, woman, or anything else.”
U.S. President Joe Biden has offered his commitment to allow citizens to change their passport gender to “x” rather than male or female, but he has yet to act on the promise. On June 20, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the State Department is evaluating the “best approach to achieve this goal.”
In 2019, American Airlines began offering customers the ability to select additional gender options outside of male or female choices.
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The use of “x” is accepted by the International Civil Aviation Organization, according to a readout published this year. Additional countries that legally allow “x” in identification documents include Denmark, Iceland, and Nepal.
