Passport holders in Canada will have a third option for identifying their gender, “M” for male, “F” for female or “X” for unspecified.
The move was disclosed in a statement by Ahmed Hussein, minister of refugees, immigration and citizenship Canada (IRCC). Canadian officials said the change is meant to offer transgender individuals the option to accurately describe their gender identity without being forced to identify as their birth gender.
The decision makes Canada the ninth country in the world to offer a third category for gender identification on passports, according to the LGBT rights group Lambda Legal. Other nations that offer their citizens similar options include Australia, Bangladesh, Germany, India, Malta, Nepal, New Zealand and Pakistan.
