Judge: US can’t deny passport for refusing to pick gender

A judge has ruled that U.S. officials cannot deny a passport application from an intersex Colorado resident based solely on a refusal to select male or female for gender.

U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson said in a ruling released Wednesday that the U.S. State Department was arbitrary in rejecting the application and violated federal law.

Dana Zzyym sued in 2015. Zzyym was born with ambiguous sexual characteristics and doesn’t identify as male or female.

The judge in 2016 ordered the State Department to reconsider Zzyym’s passport application. The department denied it again in 2017.

Several countries issue passports with gender designations other than female or male, including “X” or “O.”

The agency didn’t immediately return a request for comment.