Intersex person denied a passport over gender designation sues U.S. government
Hailey Branson-Potts for the Los Angeles Times reports on an interest lawsuit involving the issuance of a passport.
Dana Zzyym wanted to apply for a U.S. passport. Thee application, however, offered only two gender choices: male or female.
For Zzyym, neither was accurate. Zzyym was born with ambiguous genitalia and identifies as intersex, neither male nor female. Zzyym was denied a passport after the State Department declined to let Zzyym use the gender marker “X.”
Zzyym, a Navy veteran, has sued the State Department, saying the federal government violated the Constitution’s guarantees of due process rights and discriminated against Zzyym based on gender. The suit names Secretary of State John F. Kerry as a defendant and alleges that in order to get a passport, Zzyym would have had to lie under penalty of perjury.
KJ