The United States on Wednesday announced its first passport with "X" for gender, a landmark step for people outside the binary male or female categories.
The State Department said it had issued a first passport with "X" for gender and would make the option routinely available by early 2022 both for passports and birth certificates of Americans abroad.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken had promised to address the issue in June but said that there were technological hurdles that needed to be addressed.
Under Blinken, the State Department has also allowed US passport holders to select their gender on passports.
Previously, Americans required medical certification if they sought to mark a gender on their passports different than on their birth certificates or other documents.
The Human Rights Campaign, a leading advocacy group for LGBTQ rights, called the new passport policy "historic."
At least 11 other countries already have an "X" or "other" option for passports, according to the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion, a London-based advocacy group.
The countries include Canada, Germany and Argentina as well as India, Nepal and Pakistan.
