Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Wednesday, June 30, that the state department would soon introduce a third gender marker or option on U.S. passports, allowing people who identify as nonbinary, intersex or gender-nonconforming an alternative to the standard “M” or “F” they were previously forced to choose between.
Blinken called the change one more step in the current administration’s efforts to ensure “the fair treatment of LGBTQI+ U.S. citizens, regardless of their gender or sex.”
However, as Laurel Wamsley of NPR reported, the process will be complicated for the government and may take some time to officially roll out.
