Gender neutral passports REJECTED in UK

Gender-neutral passports have been rejected in the UK following a campaign from Christie Elan-Cane.

Gender-neutral passports have been rejected in the UK following a campaign from Christie Elan-Cane, who is non-gendered.

Christie Elan-Cane has said of the verdict for ‘X’ gender markers in British passports: “Justice was not served.”

Elan-Cane’s landmark battle, which argues that it is discriminatory to force non-binary and non-gendered citizens to falsely declare themselves to be male or female for the purposes of a travel document, became the first-ever trans civil rights case to be heard by the UK’s highest court in July 2021.

Today, December 15, Lord Read announced that the Supreme Court agreed with the government’s decision that making ‘X’ gender markers available on passports would have “adverse implications for the security aspects for the use of passports” and “result in substantial administrative costs.”

Christie Elan-Cane told PinkNews of feeling “angry”, “furious”, “disappointed” but “not surprised” and that the case will now go to the European Court.

Elan-Cane called the judgment “an abomination” and added: “Justice was not served today.”

“I am not surprised but I am taken aback by some of the language in the judgement, which was quite appalling. It [the judgment] seems to me to be so pre-decided, effectively repeating the government’s line almost verbatim in cases. If they knew the outcome from the beginning then why did they grant permission in the first place?

“We could have gone directly to Strasbourg, we could have been in the queue waiting. [The Supreme Court] basically wasted a whole year.”

X PASSPORTS IN THE UK

I VERY MUCH REGRET TO INFORM EVERYONE THAT JUSTICE WAS NOT SERVED TODAY

THE CASE WILL NOW GO TO THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN STRASBOURG.

— Christie Elan-Cane (@ChristieElanCan) December 15, 2021

Elan-Cane has campaigned for almost 30 years to achieve legal and social recognition.

Countries like Australia and New Zealand have had X passports “for years”, said Elan-Cane “so it is the UK yet again on the wrong side of history.”

“I’m not crushed. If they think that I’m going to go away… I think they see me as this blue bottle [fly] or something.”

“Every time they try to swat me away I come back at them. This isn’t over.”

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