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Campaign calls for genderless option on British passports

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Press Trust of India London
Last Updated : Apr 05 2017 | 5:13 PM IST
Campaigners in the UK today called for a genderless option on British passports to fairly represent the transgender community.
Passports should allow people who do not identify as male or female to define themselves as "X", Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights activists have said.
The British government has said it is reviewing the UK's Gender Recognition Act to make it fairer for the transgender community.
"Some trans people find it very validating of their identity to have that gender designator. And additionally, in terms of getting access to other things in daily life, having a piece of identification that marks out your gender is actually really useful," said Tara Stone, adviser at Stonewall - one of the UK's leading LGBT rights groups.
Stone told BBC that the "X" option would also be of great benefit to intersex people who are born with a mixture of male and female sex characteristics.
A UK government spokesperson said, "we have committed to reviewing the (act) to look at ways of streamlining and de- medicalising the process for changing a person's legal gender.
"Alongside this, we are investing three million pounds (USD 3.7 million) to tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. We are committed to delivering further positive changes for transgender people".
Campaigners have set out several other recommendations to help trans people be "accepted without exception", including removing "outdated" terms like "gender reassignment" and "transsexual" and allowing trans people to change their gender on legal documents without a medical letter.

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First Published: Apr 05 2017 | 5:13 PM IST

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