On the last day of Pride Month, the U.S. State Department announced that it’s beginning the process of updating U.S. Passports by adding Gender Marker ‘X’ to more accurately represent non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming identities.

Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken announced: “We will be updating our procedures to allow applicants to self-select their gender as ‘M’ or ‘F’ and will no longer require medical certification if an applicant’s self-selected gender does not match the gender on their other citizenship or identity documents”

LGBTQI+ organization Lambda Legal announced this as a victory for their plaintiff U.S. Navy veteran Dana Zzyym, who is intersex and non-binary, and has been in a legal fight for six years, for a passport that more accurately represents them.

“I’ve been at this fight for so long,” Zzyym said in a statement. “I am optimistic that, with the incredible support and work of Lambda Legal and the Intersex Campaign for Equality, I will soon receive an accurate passport. One that reflects who I truly am; and that will allow for me to present in person at the several international conferences to which I’ve been invited to present on issues confronting intersex people.”

The State Department hasn’t given a clear timeline on when the process will be complete, stating that the system updates will take a while, and that they’re working with interagency partners to make travel experiences easier for the passport holder.

In the statement, Blinken added: “The Department is taking these steps after considerable consultation with like-minded governments who have undertaken similar changes. We also value our continued engagement with the LGBTQI+ community, which will inform our approach and positions moving forward. With this action, I express our enduring commitment to the LGBTQI+ community today and moving forward.

Other countries where passports have gender marker options beyond ‘M’ and ‘F’ include Canada, India, Malta, Nepal and New Zealand.

Updates on the process can be found here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/selecting-your-gender-marker.html