Those with a non-binary ID must choose a gender to enter the United States

On July 23, the President of the Nation Alberto Fernández announced the issuance of the National Identity Document (DNI) for people who perceive themselves as non-binary. This paradigm shift will be reflected in different situations and one of them is what will happen to passports. for those who want to travel abroad.

Following the publication of Decree 476/2021, Argentina became the first country in Latin America which gives its citizens the possibility of choosing an option different from the traditional “F” and “M”, in the “gender” option of identity documents.

In this way, the Argentinian DNI will have the possibility of recording an “X” to define the sex, as with passports.

The government itself has recognized in the text that there are very few countries in the world that they have already admitted the possibility of not indicating the male or female sex on an identity document. These are the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Canada.

Faced with this, the Embassy of the United States, one of the countries most frequented by Argentines, denied the possibility of not to choose between man and woman when obtaining the visa to enter the country.

“Right now, only male and female gender options are available for a US visa applicant Applicants should choose one or the other when preparing their visa application online. The gender reflected in the sex field on any visa issued must match the gender reflected in the sex field in the applicant’s foreign passport“, they explained to Bugle from the embassy.

He continued, “If a foreign passport does not include a gender / male or female field, the applicant must select a male or female for the US visa application and in such cases the department usually issues the visa. on the basis of the indication of male or female, sex chosen by the applicant ”.

At the same time from the embassy they announced that they were in a “update process“of their policies regarding gender markers in passports.

However, they did not confirm when it would go into effect: “At this time, we cannot provide an exact timeline for when we will start offering a gender marker. for non-binary, intersex and gender nonconforming people. “

They also clarified that as work continues towards this longer-term goal, the State Department will announce news and information in this regard on the official US government website.

New paradigm

With this new document for non-binary people, a new paradigm will be opened. The impact will be seen over the months on issues such as retirement age, electoral quotas and work quotas, among other types of procedures.

The time of retirement in Argentina is defined by the number of years of contribution (30, with exceptions), and a minimum age differentiated between men (65 years) and women (60). What will happen to non-binary people? For some constitutional scholars, the pro-person principle will be applied or “the pension regulations will be amended and the non-binary as a new category”.

Since the 2019 elections, in Argentina, 50% of the electoral lists must be represented by female candidates, in order to promote gender parity in the legislative power. Before, since the law 24,012 of the female quota sanctioned in 1991, it was 30%.

“If a candidate is seen as a non-binary person today, and until the law is changed, to be a candidate will have to decide», Analyzed the constitutionalist Gil Domínguez and pointed out that the same pro-person principle applies.

“The current legislation or you change it or you give non-binary people the same place as women to promote their inclusion in politics, because legislation is being considered for disadvantaged groups», Explained the lawyer.

LM