Genderless ID card issued in Yucatán

A voter ID card without a male or female gender designation has been issued for the first time in the state of Yucatán. 

The Yucatán office of the National Electoral Institute (INE) announced Wednesday that a nonbinary voter ID card had been issued in the state capital Mérida in accordance with “the affirmative action for inclusion” promoted by the autonomous elections and voting oversight agency. 

Fausto Martínez holding an AMLO doll.
Fausto Martínez became the first Mexican to be legally recognized as nonbinary in 2022, after petitioning the Supreme Court to issue a new birth certificate. (Fausto Martínez/Twitter)

The person who received the card was not identified by name but INE Yucatán posted photos of them to its Twitter account.    

Members of the electoral institute’s general council voted in late February to allow genderless ID cards, and the first were issued in Aguascalientes last month. 

Instead of an M for mujer (woman) or H for hombre (man), INE cards issued to people who identify as nonbinary have an X in the gender field. Applicants for genderless voter IDs simply have to identify themselves as nonbinary. Citizens can also request a voter ID card on which the gender field is left blank. 

There is no requirement to present a birth certificate showing that the person is officially recognized as neither male nor female. 

The first person in Mexico to be issued a birth certificate identifying them as nonbinary was Fausto Martínez. In late 2021, Martínez petitioned a federal court to recognize their gender identity after the Civil Registry in Guanajuato denied their request for a corrected birth certificate.  

Early last year, a judge granted Martínez’s request for an injunction and ordered the registry to issue them a new birth certificate, which it did on Feb. 11, 2022.

Edie Galván Villareal of Nuevo León became Mexico’s second officially recognized nonbinary person just over a year ago. 

More recently, Jesús Ociel Baena Saucedo, a judge with the Electoral Tribunal of the State of Aguascalientes, was granted an injunction that allowed them to get a new birth certificate without a male or female gender designation.

With reports from Milenio and La Jornada Maya 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
A previously built section of wall along the Mexico-U.S. border near Tecate, Baja California.

US border wall construction damages sacred Cuchumá Hill on Mexico–US border

2
US authorities are blasting Cuchumá Hill, a sacred Kumeyaay site on the Mexico–US border, to build more wall — drawing condemnation from Indigenous leaders and Mexican officials.
baby monkey at Guadalajara Zoo

Meet Yuji, the abandoned baby monkey stealing hearts at the Guadalajara Zoo

1
Yuji joins Punch, a baby macaque in Japan, and Linh Mai, an Asian elephant calf in Washington, as newborns rejected by their mothers but adopted by animal experts and an adoring public.
A highway sign says "Termina Chihuahua, El estado grande"

Mexico in numbers: Mexico’s biggest and smallest states

0
Why does Oaxaca have more than 100 times more municipalities than Baja California Sur? Here's a hint: It's not about size. Find the answer in this week's edition of "Mexico in numbers
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity