The UK High Court has rejected a bid to introduce gender-neutral passports. The litigant had suggested that asking passport holders to specify their gender is “inherently discriminatory.”

Christie Elan-Cane, who has been campaigning with the backing of Human Rights Watch for so-called “gender-X” passports since 1995, said: “I am bitterly disappointed that my case for the judicial review of the UK government’s discriminatory passport policy was not upheld – not just for myself but for everyone who is compromised by this policy.

“I was not seeking special treatment. I was seeking to be treated as a human being,” she said, the BBC reports.

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Justice Baker rejected claims that the current policy, which requires putting ‘male’ or ‘female’ on passports, is in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).

“At present I am not satisfied, for the reasons which I have set out, that the current policy of HM Passport Office is unlawful,” the judge said.

Elan-Cane’s lawyer argued in the High Court last April that the policy breached two fundamental rights: the respect for a private life and the right to not be discriminated against on the basis of gender and sex.

LGBT charity Stonewall also expressed disappointment at the High Court’s dismissal, saying: “Many trans people are afraid to travel abroad for fear of intrusive questioning or difficulties at passport control.

“Non-binary people are also not recognized under law, and it's unclear whether they are protected by anti-discrimination legislation,” said Laura Russell, Stonewall's head of policy, the BBC reports.

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