Written by Cnn
By Meera Parthasarathy, CNN London
A transgender man from India has become the first person to use a gender-X passport in the US.
After the State Department issued the document on Wednesday, Kamalesh Sharma posted a selfie on Facebook, saying it was a “symbol of progress and of freedom.”
The State Department first recognized the gender category for transgender people in July of this year.
“Customs officials were extremely kind and accommodating,” the 34-year-old New Yorker said in an interview with CNN. “They didn’t hesitate for a moment to either make an exception for me or simply to book my travel for me.”
Sharma was born male, but decided to transition to a woman after he underwent gender reassignment surgery. His transgender rights advocacy, through organization Sakhi, was instrumental in his decision to travel to the US using a Gender X passport.
In August, CNN reported that CNN International would begin publishing stories about transgender people applying for gender-X passports as a part of the CNN’s series “Many Lives.”
“When I was alive, I had to fly through airports every day and pass through metal detectors and have all those security checks and run through scanning areas where there would be officers,” Sharma said. “Now, I can fly without any of that.”
