There is a petition on the UK Parliament website to legally recognise nonbinary as a gender – which would include an X marker on UK passports for nonbinary people.

The deadline to sign is March 2026 and at the time of writing only 213 people have signed.

Let's show them the power of Mastodon. At 100,000 signatures, the petition will be debated in Parliament.

Sign 👇

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/738780

#NonBinary #Enby #Trans #Transgender #Queer #LGBTQ #LGBT #UK #UKMastodon #Fediverse

@syhr very on the fence about this. recognizing it is good, but maybe they shouldn't force people to put their gender marker in passports, thus indirectly making an entire data directory of nonbinary people in the uk...this can only get ugly

@mynameistillian @syhr potentially it could benl uncomfortable, but it will only become a non issue when it is common.

@syhr question, is there anything stopping me from saying I’m british and putting in some random british postcode

@syhr

As a non UK resident Briton (I am a refugee from TERF Island) I cannot sign, but I can boost ...

@syhr Can't sign since I don't live there but super happy to boost!

@alexadeswift @syhr

British citizens living overseas can sign - says so next to the checkbox at the top.

@TheLancashireman

Thanks! Previously insofar as I can remember, you had to have a UK Postcode to sign them! This seems to have changed which is as it should be!

@syhr

@syhr signed and shared elsewhere as well as boosted here

@mynameistillian @syhr it's not mandatory like in Germany, or indeed the US when they had it. So you can choose not have an X marker.

So not sure where 'forcing' comes from?

@syhr Be careful, looking at the US: If the UK follows on their route to fascism, they may block people from leaving the country based on X markers... It may be wise to remain in a state of plausible gender deniability.

@KarlHeinzHasliP There's been some discussion about that under the toot 🙂

@columbduffy @syhr tbh i am worried of a scenario where a bigoted administration comes to power somehow and then uses this data against the minorities

@syhr @alexia I see. Thanks for your insight :)

@kaidenshi 💚

@syhr Singed!

@radioclash @syhr just kinda assumed that's the case, pardon me

but i still am wary of government collecting such info

@alexadeswift

I used to select Germany and put my German postcode in the box. It was quite happy about it.

These days the postcode box disappears if you select a country other than UK.

@mynameistillian @radioclash As we all should be 😊

@syhr No longer live in the UK otherwise I'd sign it, but definitely sharing it!

@DastardlyBadger 💚

@syhr

I support this, and not just for non-binary. I'm cis-female and have long resented being forced to announce it in circumstances where my gender should be irrelevant.

@syhr signed and boosted :)

@syhr
Signed and shared.
#mastodon #fediverse #enbi

@sunflowerinrain Completelt agree. My preferred option would be to scrap gender markers on passports. But the legal protections are still important.

@mynameistillian @syhr far point. I didn’t consider how passports are used for travel to potentially unsafe destinations in this context.

Still, it’d be good to provide the choice.

@NormanDunbar 💚

@syhr Welcome.

@radioclash 💚

@syhr Signed!

@dtl 💚

@syhr @NormanDunbar Done!

@smilingheretic @NormanDunbar 💚

@syhr This may not be such a great idea. One database query and the government has a list for nefarious purposes.

@syhr I'm not terribly hopeful that a petition would do much on this topic, considering the failure of the courts to do anything so far https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/05/non-binary-uk-lawsuit-echr/

@wolfie Hope is always worth having.

@Alternatecelt 💚

@Starcross @syhr yes.

It's an official UK government petition site. They have access to the full electoral role. They routinely check large petitions against it and remove signatures that don't match.

So, I guess you could easily do that, but it's pretty pointless.

@alexadeswift 💚

@syhr
oh that would make Elon so mad

@BabaLooey There's been some discussion about that under the toot 🙂

@Sassinake For sure

@syhr

Now 392, Sharkey fork of Misskey here BTW.

@syhr nitpick: The power of /the Fediverse/.

@syhr done

@AnguaDelphine Have changed to "the Fediverse"! 🦊

@navi Fixed! 🦊

@syhr

Cool. Surprised so few have signed. I boosted your original so hopefully some more people will sign.

@AnguaDelphine 💚

@syhr yay!

@syhr @sunflowerinrain

So, unfortunately, there's a treaty for passport standardisation which requires gender information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-readable_passport

Getting an X in the UK is easier than changing the treaty is easier than getting rid of borders.

@syhr @mynameistillian @radioclash

Updating one's documentation is always a tradeoff. For many trans people, trying to travel on an unupdated passport means enduring a _lot_ of harassment and potentially being denied entry or exit (and thus getting stranded overseas).

The X option will make travel easier for some people and may also be a way that some cis people might express solidarity.

@celesteh @sunflowerinrain Good to know!

@mynameistillian @syhr According to the ICAO standard, the sex field is mandatory but countries can just put X (or < in the MRZ, which is also the filler character) for unspecified:

Where an issuing State or organization does not want to identify the sex, the filler character (<) shall be used in this field in the MRZ and an X in this field in the VIZ.

So there’s nothing preventing them from effectively abolishing gender markers on passports by just putting X for everyone (which they should do)

@syhr U.S. ally here. Wish I could sign.

@noisytoot @mynameistillian This is the way

@celesteh technically, all listed formats support «unspecified» option for gender, either X or filler character <...

@syhr @sunflowerinrain

@Starcross @syhr Yes, it'll be cross-referenced against the Electoral Register. I don't imagine you'd be likely to fool them, to be honest.

@alexia @mynameistillian @columbduffy @syhr I'd guess that too. This is the current process that the Home Office use when issuing a passport to a person ("customer"). Since there is no non-binary option for a Gender Recognition Certificate, a British person applying for a passport for the very first time must use the gender that they were assigned at birth.

Ask the customer to tell us what their current gender (male or female) is. This
will be either their gender:

• they were assigned at birth
• in their last British passport
• that was recognised by a Gender Recognition Certificate

@columbduffy @mynameistillian @syhr The UK Home Office will already issue a second passport to British citizens who are deemed at particular risk for traveling to a certain country, or who would be prevented from entering a certain country with their current passport (for instance those who need to travel to Israel despite having already visited Iran).

The UK adopting enbyphobic legislation is a genuinely plausible eventuality, and in such a case, being on the record as non-binary would be dangerous. But if the UK doesn't become actively hostile to non-binary people and the UK starts to allow a non-binary gender marker on new passports, I'm sure they would issue secondary passports (with a binary gender marker) for those people just as with any other group facing difficulty traveling.

@sunflowerinrain @syhr Unfortunately the only mechanism that the UK has currently for changing the gender marker on a passport involves the holder of said passport obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). It's already hard enough for trans people to get a GRC, so I don't think it'll be possible for cis people to change their gender marker any time soon. The GRC process is also very invasive so there's little chance a cis person would be willing to lie in order to get one, IMHO.

@radioclash @mynameistillian @syhr So you can get a passport without any gender marker in the UK? If it's a choice, roughly what percent of people (of all genders, cis and trans) choose to display a gender on their passport?

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr No you can't get a passport without a gender marker in the UK. That's what the petition is asking for.

@radioclash @mynameistillian @syhr OK, so then under what's being proposed, non-binary people would have to choose either to display a binary gender that is inaccurate or to mark themselves for potential persecution, while cis and binary trans people also have to carry a marker that may be used to discriminate against them. Why put genders on passports in the first place? What purpose does it serve?

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr I agree passports should without your AGAB..

But sadly they aren't. Same goes for birth certificates.

What is your point?

@radioclash @mynameistillian @syhr That listing genders on identity documents only institutionalizes discrimination and the practice should be ended rather than modified. It would make a lot of people's lives easier not to have to worry about it.

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr but if you're wanting to destroy the gender binary on all documents....I agree, but good luck with that. This is the first step - if you got a lot of people opting for X then they might realise how ridiculous it is.

But to say the real world will go from gender on passports to none is kind of Tumblr Utopian thinking.

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr the fact at the start of this you didn't even know what the situation was in the UK makes me wonder if this is a good faith argument at all?

Like this is for UK people to debate and decide....

@radioclash @PedestrianError @mynameistillian Also worth mentioning this petition is about all legal rights / protections for nonbinary folks – in employment, health, etc – not just gender markers on ID.

@syhr @PedestrianError @mynameistillian exactly.

The government have looked into this before and said there wasn't enough people to do the change, so they have considered it.

Also I suspect there are more people who are non-binary who aren't out officially. Chicken and the egg situation.

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr surely that's the point of an X marker? Anyone - including cis people - can choose to opt out.

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr saying you are non-binary publicly ANYWHERE can be used against you.

But some choose to be open about it, like myself. And some choose stealth which is their choice.

Why not have a choice? If we have to have genders on there. But I bet asking for the AGAB on passports would NOT go down well. Try it.

@radioclash @mynameistillian @syhr I'm non-binary/agender too, but it's not just about non-binary people. Gender is a socially constructed hierarchy and those who are assigned female at birth suffer lifelong discrimination regardless of how they identify or present as they grow up. AMAB people are also harmed by the system even as it gives them many privileges. The goal should be to eliminate differential treatment and discriminatory categorization. No one needs the hassle of changing documents.

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr are you in the UK?

@radioclash @mynameistillian @syhr Nope. In a country where people with X markers as well as those who have changed their binary gender markers have already suffered from having documents revoked and their identities declared criminal. It can happen anywhere. I can understand the idea of it being an intermediate step, but the ultimate goal needs to be freedom from government-sanctioned gender for all including those who are more or less cis. Things that serve no purpose should just go away.

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr that's very vague.

And also I've never heard of that.

Feels rather paranoid to me. Usually us enbies are under the radar.

@radioclash @mynameistillian @syhr USA. The centrist Biden administration started allowing X on passports a couple years before fascists came back to power and started revoking them, causing people all kinds of unnecessary administrative headaches. I don't want an X as a virtue signal, I want equal treatment for all, including cis women who continue to have fewer legal rights than those assigned male privilege in a variety of ways. Formally sorting people by gender is incompatible with equality.

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr fine then don't have it in your country. Campaign for it to be dropped entirely in your country.

Don't tell people in other countries how to run things...different situation, different politics, we are not the US.

Also I know something about the dropping of the marker, that was Trump, he caused the headaches, not us?

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr also excuse me if I don't totally trust an anon account from an unnamed country using US spellings...

You do not pass the vibe check, sorry.

@PedestrianError @mynameistillian @syhr anyway that's your country, not ours.

This is not passing the vibe check as the kids say....

@radioclash And there's no risk of Reform UK gaining power or the conservatives coming back with a vengeance? The same issue exists around the world, the same campaigns happen. Opting not to compare notes or observe what has happened elsewhere may be shortsighted. Best of luck to you.

@seabass @sunflowerinrain @syhr I intend to try getting an X in my passport using section 46 of the Data Protection Act (the UK’s implementation of GDPR article 16, the right to rectification).

The controller must, if so requested by a data subject, rectify without undue delay inaccurate personal data relating to the data subject.

I don’t see why this wouldn’t apply to the gender marker in passports - it’s definitely personal data. And it doesn’t cost anything to submit a GDPR request to HMPO (and complain to the ICO if that fails) so I might as well try (although I thought of this idea in 2024 and I still haven’t actually done it…)

@noisytoot @sunflowerinrain @syhr I would be very interested to hear how this goes! By the way, I don't remember you identifying as non-binary in ~2022 when we first got to know each other. If this is indeed recent, congratulations on discovering that aspect of your identity :)

@noisytoot @sunflowerinrain @syhr @seabass isn't the government basically exempt from that pesky thing of complying with GDPR? Or is it only certain parts of it?

@syhr so on reflection, I will not be signing. It seems like a bad idea to create a database of non-binary.

@seabass @columbduffy @mynameistillian @syhr fascinating implication that the UK isn't currently actively hostile to non-binary people

Fair point, @zbrown 🙁

@columbduffy @mynameistillian @syhr

@jetlagjen @Starcross @syhr What makes you think they check against the electoral roll? Petitions are supposedly open to all UK residents, not only those who can vote

@bwh @jetlagjen @Starcross @syhr tbf those are somewhat close to the same thing, ‘can vote’ is not a simple bool flag, and the rolls include plenty of people who can only vote in some elections, or indeed none.

Hence you can't generally use electoral registration in things like Right To Work contexts, it doesn't in and of itself demonstrate a whole lot of anything outside of some nebulous idea you might exist.

@bwh @jetlagjen @Starcross @syhr I'd imagine that's just one data source they use though.

The bigger question is: …why bother that hard? I'm not saying people shouldn't sign it, but also let's not kid ourselves: This isn't at all binding, it almost certainly won't get considered by the full house, and even if it was there are absolutely zero viable routes to pass that legislation.