Colombian Court Orders Nonbinary Marker on ID Documents

This "is an initial step towards effective social participation," the justices wrote.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

March 09 2022 4:50 PM EST

May 31 2023 4:05 PM EST

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The Constitutional Court of Colombia has ruled that people should have the option of listing a nonbinary gender on their official identification documents.

The court ruled last week that the government must allow residents "to opt for this category, with the same guarantees of those who identify officially as binary," Agence France-Presse reports.

The decision came in a case brought by Dani Garcia, a Colombian who was assigned male at birth, went through a gender transition, and in 2019 sought an official ID listing their gender as "indeterminate." The government agency in charge of issuing such documents initially denied the request. All Colombian citizens who are 18 or older are issued an ID card by the National Civil Agency, and it serves as their identification in voting, travel, applying for jobs, and a host of other activities.

The court ordered the agency to provide Garcia with the document and offer the nonbinary option to others. This option "is an initial step towards effective social participation," the justices wrote.

Several countries, including the U.S., offer a nonbinary identifier on passports, and some U.S. states have begun allowing nonbinary or gender-neutral markers on driver's licenses and other documents.

There has been a degree of progress for LGBTQ+ Colombians in recent years. The South American nation has had marriage equality since 2016, thanks to a Constitutional Court ruling. Its first out senator, bisexual woman Angelica Lozano, was elected in 2018. Bogota, the nation's capital, elected its first woman and first out mayor, lesbian Claudia Lopez Hernandez, in 2019. That position is considered second in importance only to the president.