Dana Alix Zzyym (born 1958) is an

intersex Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...

activist and veteran of the U.S. Navy. After the culmination of a six-year legal battle, they became the first U.S. citizen to receive an official

U.S. passport United States passports are passports issued to citizens and non-citizen nationals of the United States of America. They are issued exclusively by the U.S. Department of State. Besides passports (in booklet form), limited-use passport cards a ...

with an "X" sex/gender marker.

Early life

Zzyym was born in 1958. Zzyym has expressed that their childhood as a

military brat A military brat (colloquial or military slang) is a child of serving or retired military personnel. Military brats are associated with a unique subcultureDavid C. Pollock, Ruth E. van Reken. ''Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds'', Revise ...

made it out of the question for them to be associated with the

queer community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individua ...

as a youth due to the prevalence of homophobia in the armed forces. Their parents hid Zzyym's status as intersex from them and Zzyym discovered their identity and the surgeries their parents had approved for them by themself after their Navy service. In 1978, Zzyym joined the Navy as a

machinist's mate Machinist's Mate (or MM) is a List of United States Navy ratings, rating in the United States Navy's engineering community. It is non-capitalised as machinist's mate when discussing the generic rating rather than as a proper noun when discussing a ...

Activism

Zzyym is the associate director of the

Intersex Campaign for Equality The Intersex Campaign for Equality (IC4E) is a non-governmental organization that advocates for the human rights of intersex people. It was formerly the US affiliate of Organisation Intersex International. History and staff The Intersex Campaign ...

. They are

nonbinary Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differe ...

and intersex.

Legal case

Zzyym is the first veteran to seek a non-binary gender U.S. passport, in the lawsuit ''Zzyym v. Blinken'' (formerly ''Zzyym v. Pompeo'', ''Zzyym v. Tillerson'', and ''Zzyym v. Kerry''). In light of the State Department's continuing refusal to recognize an appropriate gender marker, on June 27, 2017, a federal court granted Lambda Legal's motion to reopen the case. On September 19, 2018, the

United States District Court for the District of Colorado The United States District Court for the District of Colorado (in case citations, D. Colo. or D. Col.) is a federal court in the Tenth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are a ...

enjoined the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

from relying upon its binary-only gender marker policy to withhold the requested passport. In February 2021, the state department stated "To fully integrate the change into its software systems would take approximately 24 months and cost $11 million". In October 2021, they became the first U.S. citizen to receive an official U.S. passport with an "X" sex/gender marker.

Early life

Activism

Legal case

See also

References

Further reading