{"id":3911,"date":"2015-08-11T18:09:20","date_gmt":"2015-08-11T12:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=3911"},"modified":"2015-08-11T18:09:20","modified_gmt":"2015-08-11T12:24:20","slug":"dispatches-nepals-transgender-passport-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/dispatches-nepals-transgender-passport-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Dispatches: Nepal\u2019s Transgender Passport Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kyle Knight<\/a>\/Pahichan –\u00a0Monica Shahi made history today as Nepal\u2019s first citizen to carry a passport that allows its bearer to select a gender other than male or female.\u00a0This acknowledgement of her gender identity follows years of activism that pushed the legal system to recognize gender on the basis of self-identification.<\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Nepal moved toward recognizing a third gender when the Supreme Court in 2007<\/a> ruled that individuals should have their gender legally recognized based on \u201cself-feeling\u201d and that they should not have to limit themselves to \u201cfemale\u201d or \u201cmale.\u201d Since then, activists have fought<\/a> successfully to have a third category added to citizenship documents, public bathrooms<\/a>, and even the federal census<\/a>. For Shahi, this means her passport is marked \u201cO\u201d for \u201cother\u201d rather than the traditional \u201cF\u201d for \u201cfemale\u201d or \u201cM\u201d for \u201cmale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only a limited number of countries recognize more than \u201cmale\u201d and \u201cfemale\u201d on travel documents, which could pose challenges for people like Shahi as they travel. However an increasing number of governments are beginning to acknowledge that legal recognition \u2013 including of identities outside the male-female binary \u2013 can be, and should be, acknowledged on documents.<\/p>\n

Why does allowing people to record their gender identity on their own terms matter? Experience has shown that carrying\u00a0documents<\/a>\u00a0that list people\u2019s gender identity, as opposed to sex assigned at birth, can help them avoid humiliating and harmful scrutinywhile traveling<\/a>, as well helping them access health care, enroll in school, vote, and participate in other basic aspects of civic life.<\/p>\n

The United Nations special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism argued that<\/a> \u201cmeasures that involve increased travel document security, such as stricter procedures for issuing, changing and verifying identity documents, risk unduly penalizing transgender persons whose personal appearance and data are subject to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least seven countries \u2013\u00a0Bangladesh<\/a>,\u00a0India<\/a>,\u00a0Pakistan<\/a>,\u00a0Nepal<\/a>,\u00a0Malta<\/a>, New Zealand<\/a>, and\u00a0Australia<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 now legally recognize more than two genders in some way. Activists in the\u00a0Netherlands<\/a> have argued that eliminating the ubiquitous gender boxes on documents could be an effective and respectful step toward accommodating diversity.<\/p>\n

And while it may not be common practice yet, it\u2019s important to remember that\u00a0international regulations<\/a> on passports require holders to identify their gender, but even on these highly scrutinized documents, gender can be legally listed as \u201cX\u201d for unspecified.<\/p>\n

Monica Shahi\u2019s new passport signals a long-overdue respect for the 37-year-old\u2019s gender identity. Governments around the world should learn from Nepal\u2019s move toward acknowledging its citizens as they self-identify.<\/p>\n

Kyle Knight<\/a>\u00a0:\u00a0Researcher, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program<\/span><\/h4>\n

http:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2015\/08\/10\/dispatches-nepals-transgender-passport-progress<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kyle Knight\/Pahichan –\u00a0Monica Shahi made history today as Nepal\u2019s first citizen to carry a passport that allows its bearer to select a gender other than male or female.\u00a0This acknowledgement of her gender identity follows years of activism that pushed the legal system to recognize gender on the basis of self-identification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":3912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[621,492],"tags":[749,743,663,744,747,746,748,745,750,742,458,751],"class_list":["post-3911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","tag-australia","tag-bangladesh","tag-gender-identity","tag-india","tag-malta","tag-nepal","tag-new-zealand","tag-pakistan","tag-passport-is-marked-o-for-other","tag-supreme-court-in-2007","tag-transgender","tag-transgender-passport"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3911"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3913,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3911\/revisions\/3913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}