The Liberal Democrats have included Gender X passports, and an extension of the Gender Recognition Act to include intersex people in a broad equalities policy paper unveiled at Party Conference.

The ‘Expanding Opportunity, Unlocking Potential’ paper was adopted during the event in Glasgow, and includes support for allowing ‘X’ to appear on passports under gender, rather than ‘M/F’.

The paper states: “It is important that the state recognises individuals’ identity in a way that is acceptable to them, but the current system of markers on official documentation requires that people chose to identify entirely as male or female. Some countries, in line with international standards, allow ‘X’ (Unspecified) gender markers on passports and we support the extension of this to UK passports.”

It goes on to say the party supports the extension of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, to include intersex people, and to remove the need of a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria in order to obtain legal gender recognition.

“The drafting of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA) required that those seeking legal recognition of their gender obtain a medical diagnosis of ‘gender dysphoria’. This meaning that anyone whose gender was incorrectly identified or unable to be determined ad birth is unable to obtain legal recognition. We would support an update of the GRA to be more inclusive by removing the requirements for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.”

Earlier this year, a motion which calls on the Government to issue gender neutral passports to those who identify as non-gender, bi-gender and intersex, gained support from dozens of MPs.