A Colombian court has ruled that people should be able to have their gender registered as non-binary, rather than male or female, on official identity documents.
The Constitutional Court ruled the government must make it possible for "non-binary people... to opt for this category, with the same guarantees of those who identify officially as binary," in a decision obtained by AFP Tuesday, Mar. 1.
The court was considering the case of a 40-year-old Colombian born male who began a gender transition at the age of 20, and in 2015 changed their name to Dani Garcia.
In 2019, Garcia asked for a new identity document with the gender listed as "indeterminate."
The request was initially denied by the national registry in charge of issuing ID documents.
The court ordered the registry to issue Garcia a new document with a non-binary gender qualification.
The introduction of a new gender category "is an initial step towards effective social participation," said the court ruling.
According to the national statistics department, 1.8 percent of Colombia's 36 million adults identify as members of the LGBTQ community. (AFP)
