Argentina announces the inclusion of non-binary persons in the official identification registry. They will be recognized with an “x”

Argentina allowed its residents to identify themselves as non-binary on the country’s new credential. Officials, including President Alberto Fernández and the Minister of Women, Gender and Diversity, Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, distributed the first three copies of the new document this month.

For the first time in the country’s history, gender options will include male, female and X. The credential seeks to give an option that adheres to their identity to people who do not identify as male or female.

There are other identities besides that of a man and a woman, and they must be respected. They have always existed. I hope that one day we can get to the point where the identifications don’t have to include whether someone is male, female, or anything else.

Argentina is the first country in the region to offer this option, as it is only available in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Austria, Denmark and Belgium. The country’s president reaffirmed the decision by calling this new policy “incredibly liberal.”

The news comes after the activist group Zona FALGBT, who advocate for LGBTQ + rights, made public their fight to get non-binary people recognized legally and effectively within the country.

Due to this change, people like Gerónimo Carolina González Devesa, a 35-year-old doctor who, according to an interview for the site Página 12, was now able to receive his first non-binary legal identification with the X registry.

I was undocumented for three years. Today having a document that validates your identity with your gender and your self-perceived name is incredible, I feel legal.

However, some activists declared that this new identification is not enough, since the official identification of Argentina should have more options for all those who are not only men, women or non-binary.