Christie Elan-Cane is taking the government to the high court as part of a 25-year long fight to have UK passports that recognise people who don’t identify as male or female
A trans activist who is demanding gender-neutral passports has won the right to bring a High Court challenge against the British government.
Christie Elan-Cane is taking the government to the high court as part of a 25-year long fight to have UK passports that recognise people who don’t identify as male or female.
She is pushing for a third option on passports for genderless people, which is usually symbolised by an ‘x’ on travel documents and birth certificates.
Elan-Cane, who was born female but identifies as ‘non-gendered’, will on Wednesday find out if the case will proceed to a full hearing.
London-based law firm Clifford Chance, which has represented Elan-Cane since 2013, declined to comment ahead of the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice.
‘The UK Government is generally regarded as out of step, with policy change in this area being implemented in other countries,’ Elan-Cane wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
It is the first legal challenge against the Home Office’s (interior ministry) passport policy, Elan-Cane said.
‘My decision to pursue change through legal avenues was due to the political process having been tried and exhausted as the UK government evidently had no intention to seriously consider the issue,’ Elan-Cane wrote in September.
A Home Office spokesperson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an email ‘it would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.’
If the UK were to issue genderless passports, it would join Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, Malta, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Ireland and Canada.