{"id":20686,"date":"2021-12-15T09:16:07","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T14:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=20686"},"modified":"2021-12-15T09:16:07","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T14:16:07","slug":"gender-neutral-passports-campaigner-christie-elan-cane-loses-supreme-court-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/12\/15\/gender-neutral-passports-campaigner-christie-elan-cane-loses-supreme-court-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender-neutral passports: Campaigner Christie Elan-Cane loses Supreme Court case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\"><b class=\"ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">A campaigner has lost a Supreme Court case challenging the government&#8217;s refusal to issue gender neutral passports.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Christie Elan-Cane said the application process breaches human rights laws by not allowing an &#8220;X&#8221; option.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">But\u00a0<a class=\"ssrcss-9nsdc6-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.uk\/cases\/docs\/uksc-2020-0081-judgment.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the court said<\/a>\u00a0applicants&#8217; gender was &#8220;a biographical detail which can be used to confirm their identity&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Christie Elan-Cane said the case will now go to the European Court of Human Rights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The campaigner, who has called for legal recognition of non-gendered identity for decades,\u00a0<a class=\"ssrcss-9nsdc6-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChristieElanCan\/status\/1471059390182608898\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said on Twitter<\/a>\u00a0that the &#8220;UK government and judicial system are on the wrong side of history&#8221; and &#8220;this is not the end&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Gender-neutral passports are already issued by Argentina, Australia, the US, Canada, Denmark, India, Malta, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Pakistan, while Germany has introduced\u00a0<a class=\"ssrcss-9nsdc6-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-46727611\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an intersex category<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"unordered-list-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1pzprxn-BulletListContainer e5tfeyi0\">\n<ul role=\"list\">\n<li><a class=\"ssrcss-9nsdc6-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-51823318\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Activist loses gender-neutral passports challenge<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"ssrcss-9nsdc6-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/newsbeat-41567449\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8216;Why UK passports need to have an X&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"ssrcss-9nsdc6-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-59076614\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">US issues first gender-neutral &#8216;X&#8217; passport<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed Christie Elan-Cane&#8217;s appeal, which came after the Home Office won an earlier ruling in the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Lord Reed, president of the Supreme Court, said in the ruling that gender could be checked against birth, adoption or gender recognition certificates as part of confirming an applicant&#8217;s identity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">&#8220;It is therefore the gender recognised for legal purposes and recorded in those documents which is relevant,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">He said Christie Elan-Cane&#8217;s interest in having an &#8220;X&#8221; passport was outweighed by other considerations, including &#8220;maintaining a coherent approach across government&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">&#8220;There is no legislation in the United Kingdom which recognises a non-gendered category of individuals,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">He said legislation &#8220;across the statute book&#8221; assumes all people can be categorised in two sexes or genders &#8211; &#8220;terms which have been used interchangeably&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-y32r44-ComponentWrapper-HeadlineComponentWrapper e1xue1i88\" data-component=\"subheadline-block\">\n<h2 id=\"subheadline-14\" class=\"ssrcss-1nmw0uu-StyledHeading e1fj1fc10\" tabindex=\"-1\"><span role=\"text\">&#8216;False declaration&#8217;<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">At a hearing in July, Kate Gallafent QC, representing Christie Elan-Cane, told the court non-gendered people and non-binary people have to make a false declaration to get a passport, which &#8220;strikes at the foundation of the standards of honesty and integrity to be expected of such official processes&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">But Lord Reed said while non-gendered identity may be central to Christie Elan-Cane&#8217;s private life, the designation of an identity in a passport is not &#8220;a particularly important facet of the appellant&#8217;s existence or identity&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Representing Her Majesty&#8217;s Passport Office &#8211; part of the Home Office &#8211; Sir James Eadie QC said it was &#8220;obviously problematic and highly undesirable&#8221; for only one part of government to recognise non-binary or non-gendered identities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-17j9f6r-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">He said in written arguments it could lead to a person being treated as having one sex or gender by the passport office and a different one by other parts of government.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-59667786\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">A campaigner has lost a Supreme Court case challenging the government&#8217;s refusal to issue gender neutral passports. Christie Elan-Cane said the application process breaches human rights laws by not allowing an &#8220;X&#8221; option. But\u00a0the court <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/12\/15\/gender-neutral-passports-campaigner-christie-elan-cane-loses-supreme-court-case\/\" title=\"Gender-neutral passports: Campaigner Christie Elan-Cane loses Supreme Court case\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2,4],"tags":[2593,5842,8219,1624],"class_list":{"0":"post-20686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-human-rights","8":"category-news","9":"category-uk","10":"tag-european-court-of-human-rights","11":"tag-gender","12":"tag-passports","13":"tag-uk-supreme-court","14":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20686"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20689,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20686\/revisions\/20689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}