Years from now, historians will look back at the Swiss government’s decision to reject the introduction of a third gender option on official records as some sanity has returned to Europe. But the prevailing trend across the bloc is neighboring countries have added ways for residents to identify as nonbinary.
AP News reported the governing Federal Council said, “the binary gender model is still strongly anchored in Swiss society.” The council rejected two proposals from parliament on Wednesday to introduce a third-gender option or no-gender option for official records.
“The social preconditions for the introduction of a third gender or for a general waiver of the gender entry in the civil registry currently are not there,” the council continued.
According to the government, such options would require too many changes to the country’s constitution and laws at national and cantonal levels. They added now wasn’t the right time to overhaul the system, citing a 2020 report via the national ethics commission.
Meanwhile, third-gender options on official documents are allowed in several European countries, including Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Norway, and Belgium. An increasing number of western countries are passing laws allowing a third-gender option.
At least someone has some sense.