Judge: US can’t deny passport over refusing to pick gender

DENVER (AP) — U.S. officials cannot deny a passport application from an intersex Colorado resident based solely on a refusal to select male or female for gender, a federal judge said Wednesday.

The U.S. State Department’s varied explanations for rejecting the application weren’t reasonable, U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson said in his ruling, forcing him to set aside the decision as “arbitrary and capricious.”

The ruling is limited, but advocates said they hope it leads to expanded gender choices on federal identification.