Mastodawn

There is a petition on the UK Parliament website to legally recognise nonbinary as a gender – which would include an X marker on UK passports for nonbinary people.

The deadline to sign is March 2026 and at the time of writing only 213 people have signed.

Let's show them the power of the Fediverse. At 100,000 signatures, the petition will be debated in Parliament.

Sign 👇

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/738780

#NonBinary #Enby #Trans #Transgender #Queer #LGBTQ #LGBT #UK #UKMastodon #Fediverse

Petition: Legally recognise non-binary as a gender

Non-binary isn’t a legally recognised gender in the UK. We urge the Government to legally recognise non-binary as a gender and people who identify as non-binary in the UK. This proposal would include an X marker on UK passports for non-binary people.

Petitions - UK Government and Parliament

Princess Serena Star ✨Jan 15

@syhr question, is there anything stopping me from saying I'm british and putting in some random british postcode

@Starcross @syhr data is checked against a registry of citizens AFAIK

Princess Serena Star ✨Jan 15

@syhr @alexia I see. Thanks for your insight :)

Ben Hutchings Jan 15

@alexia @Starcross @syhr So far as I know there is no such register in the UK. We have a whole lot of different incomplete and inconsistent databases for the NHS, births and deaths, naturalisation, passports, residence for council tax purposes, etc. Each of those either includes some non-citizens or excludes some citizens.

Besides which, the petition site is supposed to be open to both citizens and residents.

@Starcross @syhr yes.

It's an official UK government petition site. They have access to the full electoral role. They routinely check large petitions against it and remove signatures that don't match.

So, I guess you could easily do that, but it's pretty pointless.

Ben Hutchings Jan 15

@jetlagjen @Starcross @syhr What makes you think they check against the electoral roll? Petitions are supposedly open to all UK residents, not only those who can vote

@bwh @jetlagjen @Starcross @syhr tbf those are somewhat close to the same thing, ‘can vote’ is not a simple bool flag, and the rolls include plenty of people who can only vote in some elections, or indeed none.

Hence you can't generally use electoral registration in things like Right To Work contexts, it doesn't in and of itself demonstrate a whole lot of anything outside of some nebulous idea you might exist.

@bwh @jetlagjen @Starcross @syhr I'd imagine that's just one data source they use though.

The bigger question is: …why bother that hard? I'm not saying people shouldn't sign it, but also let's not kid ourselves: This isn't at all binding, it almost certainly won't get considered by the full house, and even if it was there are absolutely zero viable routes to pass that legislation.

Sebastian Crane 🏳️‍⚧️ -> OggCamp Jan 15

@Starcross @syhr Yes, it'll be cross-referenced against the Electoral Register. I don't imagine you'd be likely to fool them, to be honest.

Angela Miller Jan 15

@syhr
Signed and shared.
#mastodon #fediverse #enbi

@syhr signed and shared elsewhere as well as boosted here

Badger Ben Jan 15

@syhr No longer live in the UK otherwise I'd sign it, but definitely sharing it!

sunflowerinrain Jan 15

I support this, and not just for non-binary. I'm cis-female and have long resented being forced to announce it in circumstances where my gender should be irrelevant.

Sebastian Crane 🏳️‍⚧️ -> OggCamp Jan 15

@sunflowerinrain @syhr Unfortunately the only mechanism that the UK has currently for changing the gender marker on a passport involves the holder of said passport obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). It's already hard enough for trans people to get a GRC, so I don't think it'll be possible for cis people to change their gender marker any time soon. The GRC process is also very invasive so there's little chance a cis person would be willing to lie in order to get one, IMHO.

Noisytoot Jan 16

@seabass @sunflowerinrain @syhr I intend to try getting an X in my passport using section 46 of the Data Protection Act (the UK’s implementation of GDPR article 16, the right to rectification).

The controller must, if so requested by a data subject, rectify without undue delay inaccurate personal data relating to the data subject.

I don’t see why this wouldn’t apply to the gender marker in passports - it’s definitely personal data. And it doesn’t cost anything to submit a GDPR request to HMPO (and complain to the ICO if that fails) so I might as well try (although I thought of this idea in 2024 and I still haven’t actually done it…)

Data Protection Act 2018

An Act to make provision for the regulation of the processing of information relating to individuals; to make provision in connection with the Information Commissioner's functions under certain regulations relating to information; to make provision for a direct marketing code of practice; and for connected purposes.

Sebastian Crane 🏳️‍⚧️ -> OggCamp Jan 16

@noisytoot @sunflowerinrain @syhr I would be very interested to hear how this goes! By the way, I don't remember you identifying as non-binary in ~2022 when we first got to know each other. If this is indeed recent, congratulations on discovering that aspect of your identity :)

Dr David Mills Jan 15

@syhr Signed!

Karl Heinz Häsliprinz Jan 15

@syhr Be careful, looking at the US: If the UK follows on their route to fascism, they may block people from leaving the country based on X markers... It may be wise to remain in a state of plausible gender deniability.

wolfie 🐺Jan 15

@syhr I'm not terribly hopeful that a petition would do much on this topic, considering the failure of the courts to do anything so far https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/05/non-binary-uk-lawsuit-echr/

Non-binary American in UK takes gender recognition fight to Europe’s top court

A non-binary person is taking a lawsuit against the UK over its refusal to recognise non-binary people to Europe's top human rights court.

PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news

@syhr signed and boosted :)

matthewcroughan Jan 15

I hope by "X Marker" they don't mean your x.com handle

X. It’s what’s happening

From breaking news and entertainment to sports and politics, get the full story with all the live commentary.

X (formerly Twitter)

Sassinake! ᑐ ∪ ∩ ⊂Jan 15

@syhr
oh that would make Elon so mad

JeniParsons Jan 15

@syhr done

celeste_hearts_disability_pride

@syhr

Now 392, Sharkey fork of Misskey here BTW.

Rhys 🦊Jan 15

@AnguaDelphine Have changed to "the Fediverse"! 🦊

@syhr nitpick: The power of /the Fediverse/.

PedestrianError

@syhr Why are people fighting for this instead of to eliminate gender markers? The only reason to put a gender marker on anyone's document is to give authorities a license to discriminate.

Rhys 🦊Jan 15

@PedestrianError There's been some discussion about that under the toot 🙂

@PedestrianError @syhr This is precisely correct! Gender was employed as an easy means of verifying identity, but when it no longer serves that function the value of retaining it disappears. How to verify someone's identity is the forest, and gender marker is just a soon-to-be-felled tree.

anneguisinherba Jan 15

@syhr U.S. ally here. Wish I could sign.