Latest Lunatic Idea From The Pc Brigade!

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35214487

[Svejk]

sigh

[jim360]

The article notes that it's already happened in Australia. Let's watch what happens there for a few years, see what difference it makes if any, and then reassess.

But can anyone seriously come up with a good -- irrefutably necessary -- reason why you need to declare your gender on a passport in the first place?

[Buenchico]

As long as the suggestion is simply that new passports should no longer indicate gender (rather than replacing all existing ones!), the idea makes perfect sense to me. There's no logical reason why a passport should state the bearer's gender so, if doing so causes problems for some people, it would be best to abandon the practice.

[ToraToraTora]

It's one of several areas of identification jim, why drop one just to pander to a tiny minority. What reason is there to not have it?

[retrocop]

I would rather this lady campaign to revert our passports back to a Dark Blue British Passport than worry about trite nonsense.

[RATTER15]

Why is it luntaic?

Surely they can identify the correct person by looking at the picture, do they really need to know what is between their legs as well?

[Mamyalynne]

It doesn't seem that silly an idea really does it?

[Buenchico]

Passports used to state the bearer's occupation until someone realised that it's irrelevant!

[anotheoldgit]

/// "Australia has decided to degender their passports." ///

No they haven't, they have allowed a third gender option.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14926598

[ToraToraTora]

that's why they are doing this ratter, the picture currently my not be commensurate with the actual sex of the individual in question. I have no idea what a Luntaic is.

[jim360]

Well, because of the "tiny minority". They are law-abiding citizens with a right to travel, after all, and if it creates some sort of horrific mess whereby they have to identify legally as a gender other than that they identify themselves as, then it's something of a mess.

That said, again I'm suggesting that rather than dismiss the idea out of hand we should use Australia as an example and see how it works in practice before rushing to implement/ dismiss it. May turn out to have unfortunate repercussions in the form of security implications -- I doubt that is true but if it were then we should find out before adopting a change on behalf of what is admittedly a small minority.

It's frustrating, though, to see an idea designed to cater to a group of people that, however small, still exists and deserves legal recognition, being dismissed out of hand as "lunatic" -- or "pathetic", which is the word my Dad used last night.

[jim360]

Ah, thanks for the correction AOG.

[Togo]

Wait for the howls when someone gets a full body search and objects to the gender of the person doing the 'search'. Who will quite rightly point out that they were unaware that it was a woman or a man being searched.

[retrocop]

//"There have been very many cases of people being detained at airports by immigration in foreign countries simply because their passports don't reflect what they look like," she told Australian radio.//

No wonder her surname is Pratt. If a immigration officer is confronted by a passenger that bears no resemblance to the passport details what are they expected to do.

Reminds me of an episode of "Come fly with me".

[Mamyalynne]

I was about to bring body searches and intimate searches into the equation - easy to solve, ask the person at that point.

I really cannot see an objection for either an 'X' box or indeed no gender needed on the passport at all.

[anotheoldgit]

I notice that some ABers choose not to include their gender in their profile, why is this, what have they got or (not got) to hide?

[TWR]

My mate's son died in a fire many years ago Jim, need I go any further?

[AliceTickband]

'tis a pity that this is a worry for her........I can think of many other things that should change........

[hc4361]

Togo, is it beyond the officers' wit to ask a person whether they would prefer to be searched by a man or a woman?

[jim360]

You'll forgive me TWR but I can't immediately see why that's relevant to the subject at hand.