Ontario in Canada issued its first non-binary birth certificate, marking a milestone for the rights of trans and non-binary people in the Canadian province. With this, residents of Ontario, Canada, can now identify as “male,” “female” or “X” on their birth certificates or remove the gender designation altogether.
Ontario-born filmmaker Joshua M. Ferguson was the province’s first known recipient of a non-binary birth certificate. Ferguson does not identify as a man or a woman, and uses the gender-neutral pronouns “they” and “their”. Ferguson’s birth certificate features an “X” instead of an “M” or “F”.
Ontario’s government revised its birth certificate policy to “recognize and respect all transgender and non-binary people” and “give all Ontarians access to identification that matches their gender identity,” according to ServiceOntario’s website.
The province issued its first gender-neutral driver’s licenses and health identification cards last year.
