US issues first gender-neutral ‘X’ passport
The United States has issued its first gender-neutral passport.
The official document features an “X” gender designation.
Dana Zzyym, of Fort Collins, Colorado, told the Associated Press it was their passport and they have been in a battle with the government over the issue since 2015.
Dana Zzyym prefers a gender-neutral pronoun. Pic: AP
Zzyym, who prefers a gender-neutral pronoun, said it was thrilling to finally get the passport but the fight for a passport with an accurate gender designation was a way to help the next generation of intersex people win recognition as full citizens with rights.
“I’m not a problem. I’m a human being. That’s the point,” the 63-year-old said.
The US special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights, Jessica Stern, said the decision brings passports in line with the “lived reality” that there is a wider spectrum of human sex characteristics than the previous two designations reflected.
“When a person obtains identity documents that reflect their true identity, they live with greater dignity and respect,” Ms Stern said.
Zzyym was previously denied a passport after failing to check male or female on an application.
According to court documents, they wrote “intersex” above the boxes marked “M” and “F” and requested an “X” instead in a separate letter.
Zzyymm was born with ambiguous physical sexual characteristics. They were raised as a boy and had several surgeries that failed to make them appear fully male, according to court filings.
They served as a male in the Navy but later identified as intersex while working and studying at Colorado State University.
The State Department’s denial of their passport prevented them from travelling to a meeting of Organisation Intersex International in Mexico.
In June, the department said it was moving towards adding a third gender marker for non-binary, intersex and gender-nonconforming people. But it said the move would take time because of required updates to its computer systems.
Applicants will also now be able to self-select their gender as male or female, meaning they will no longer be required to provide medical certification if their gender did not match that listed on other identification documents.
“We see this as a way of affirming and uplifting the human rights of trans and intersex and gender-nonconforming and nonbinary people everywhere,” Ms Stern said.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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