Non-gendered campaigner loses High Court battle for non-binary passports

A non-gendered campaigner has lost their High Court battle to get people who don’t consider themselves to be male or female recognised on UK passports.

During the landmark case, Christie Elan-Cane had argued that passports should have an ‘X’ gender category for all non-binary people, calling the current process “inherently discriminatory.”

But High Court judge Mr Justice Jeremy Baker refused the application, which was seeking to rule the government policy as unlawful.

Elan-Cane first applied for a non-gendered passport in 1995 (DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty)

Kate Gallafent QC, who was representing Elan-Cane, said during the hearing that the right not to be discriminated against based on gender or sex was enshrined in European law.

“For the claimant, obtaining and using a passport currently involves making a false declaration as to the nature of the claimant’s gender identity, which causes the claimant considerable distress,” said the QC.

“The lack of a non-gender specific passport option impacts on the claimant’s ability to obtain and use a passport on equal terms with persons who identify, and are identified, solely in terms of male or female.”

Elan-Cane said it was a “basic human right to have your identity” (DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty)

The Home Office made submissions to the court during the hearing which said that the case should be dismissed.

James Eadie, who was acting for the Home Secretary, said the current policy represents an “administratively coherent system for the recognition of gender.”

Elan-Cane, who first applied for a non-gendered passport in 1995, argued that it was a “basic human right to have your identity.”

They added that the Government was “saying non-gendered people are not human, or just not as important as everyone else.”

Elan-Cane (DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty)

This part of the battle for non-gendered passports in the UK has been going since last year.