* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
New passport rules allow for indeterminate gender option
Australians will have three gender options in their passports with immediate effect, after the government brought in new rules allowing citizens to state their gender as male, female or indeterminate, without having to undergo surgery for an official change of sex, according to media reports.
The law had previously required a person whose gender was different from that of their birth to have reassignment surgery before they could change their passport to their preferred sex, and there was no "indeterminate" option.
Transgendered or intersex people are at risk of being stopped and detained by immigration officials simply because their passports do not reflect what they look like.
They will now just need a doctor's letter of support to get a passport in what they consider their true gender, the reports said. For those who nominate the indeterminate option, "x" will appear in the gender category in their passport.
The move was welcomed by the transgender and intersex community, who called for Australia's state governments to follow suit by allowing birth certificates to also be altered without the prerequisite of surgery.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
