Refusals to introduce gender-neutral passports called ‘degrading and illogical’
Campaigners say people are having to make a false declaration to get the document.
![Campaigner Christie Elan-Cane, who is challenging the Government over gender-neutral passports.](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GettyImages-860167708-f8fc.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024)
A refusal to introduce gender-neutral passports makes the process of applying for the documents ‘degrading and illogical’, a court has heard.
Christie Elan-Cane, who identifies as non-gendered, says government policy requiring individuals to indicate if they are male or female on application forms breaches human rights laws.
The 63-year-old has campaigned for a quarter of a century to win legal recognition for non-gendered identity, and is challenging the Home Office to reverse its policy on blocking ‘X’ passports.
Appeal court judges last year ruled the right for a gender neutral passport was ‘beyond argument’ but said government did not breach the law.
Lawyer Kate Gallafent QC, yesterday told the Supreme Court Elan-Cane ‘cannot cross a frontier or undergo an identity check without using a passport which misrepresents the appellant’s gender identity’.
She said the activist was forced to ‘make a false declaration’ to get a passport, which ‘strikes at the foundation of honesty and integrity’.
Elan-Cane had an NHS-funded hysterectomy in the 1990s, and Ms Gallafent said: ‘The state has assisted in the applicant no longer having any sex-specific characteristics.
![Sir James Eadie QC leaves the Supreme Court, London.](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/PRI_85462955.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024)
‘The illogicality is the applicant cannot obtain a document recognising that acquired identity.’
But Sir James Eadie QC, for the Home Office, said it was ‘legitimate for a state to conclude “X” passports should not be viewed, or introduced, in isolation’.
The court is expected to reserve judgment until a later date.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE : Laurence Fox shares ‘transphobic’ meme about transgender Olympic athletes
How to get your Metro newspaper fix
Metro newspaper is still available for you to pick up every weekday morning or you can download our app for all your favourite news, features, puzzles... and the exclusive evening edition!
Download the Metro newspaper app for free on App Store and Google Play