Voter credentials may contain an “X” instead of the “M” and “H” that indicate biological sex (Dark Room)

The National Electoral Institute (INE) approved that it will now be possible to issue credentials to people with non-binary gender to those who request it and without the need to present identity documents that prove it.

During the ordinary session of the INE, this February 27 — on the proposal of the councilor Ciro Murayama Rendon— The incorporation of the information in the voter card with which non-binary people are recognized in the section indicating gender was voted on and declared viable.

With the new addition, the document will have an “X” in the box where the “H” and “M” appear for men and women, while it will also be possible to leave the space empty (as approved since 2018 ). .

“In October 2020 and 2021, two Mexican citizens, Kevin and Jesús, went to the offices of the local executive council of the INE in Aguascalientes to request that they be issued with a voter card recognizing their gender identity as than binary non-residents,” Murayama introduces.

The sex box can be left blank if requested by citizenship (INE)
The sex box can be left blank if requested by citizenship (INE)

During his intervention in the discussion of point 24 of the session, the adviser stated that the said request was initially refused, so that the persons concerned went to the Electoral Court of the Federal Judiciary (TEPJF); as a result of this, he began to analyze himself.

Thus, after various consultations carried out in 2022, he appeared in December before the Federal Voter Registration Commission a report in which the feasibility of including the “non-binary” option in the title with prior modification in the birth certificate was reflected.

“The National Population Register, in accordance with international parameters, identifies non-binary people with the letter X, this is the case of the activist Faust Martinez, which is February 2022 and after a long legal journey has managed to become the non-binary first person with a birth certificate that recognizes him as such, ”commented the city councilor.

Ciro Murayama pointed out the difficulties of modifying documents such as the birth certificate without the intervention of the judiciary (INE).
Ciro Murayama pointed out the difficulties of modifying documents such as the birth certificate without the intervention of the judiciary (INE).

In this sense, people who have a birth certificate where their sex is specified can receive their modified INE. However, Murayama pointed out that it is not so easy to make changes to identity documents in Mexican civil registries, since they involve lengthy legal disputes and where successful cases have been thanks to the intervention of the judiciary.

“Of the 32 entities in the country, only the state of Hidalgo has modified local legislation to directly and expressly recognize non-binary identity in civil registries”, while in CDMX, Baja California and in Jalisco it is possible to rectify the data of the minutes, explained the manager.

However, in the rest of the country it is not so easy. “The possibility of exercising the right to gender identity is limited, unequal in the federation and allows discrimination“, he pointed.

The incorporation of the X into the voter card is an achievement for the non-binary community (Dossier)
The incorporation of the X into the voter card is an achievement for the non-binary community (Dossier)

Given the panorama, the electoral authorities decided that the additional data on gender should be changed without the need to present changed identity documents, while in the registration data (which is reflected in the code electoral) “non-binary sex is established yes, and only if a birth certificate is presented with this express information”.

Despite the rejection of the political parties, the Registry Commission retained the proposal because it is a matter of citizens’ rights. “We will know if people’s sex is male or female, a biological data, as it will be defined by their birth certificate and therefore it will be registered, but when they identify themselves they will be able to say that their gender identity is non-binary,” the adviser said.

“The proposal is that what is already allowed for some, what those who plead get, can be guaranteed by the INE without mediation of the judicial process for each person in a broad way, that gender identity is recognized without further verification as everyone’s sovereign decision,” Murayama concluded.

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