Some time this year, UAE changed their rules from 'Passengers with a passport with gender "U" or "X" are not allowed to enter and transit.' to 'Passengers must have a travel document with gender F or M to enter and transit.'.
Weird.
Some time this year, UAE changed their rules from 'Passengers with a passport with gender "U" or "X" are not allowed to enter and transit.' to 'Passengers must have a travel document with gender F or M to enter and transit.'.
Weird.
They are essentially stating that there are only two genders and oat least and only one of the two are acceptable on a passport.
So even if a country were to issue a legally valid passport with a gender other than M or F it won't be valid in UAE.
Guess they really aren't interested in the potential lost tourist revenue or treating everyone with basic standards of civility or respect.
@ryanc UAE was never on my bucket list anyway. I wonder what they'd do if a passport officially had no gender qualifier whatsoever? Hmmmm, time to write my representatives.
@Spartan_1986 Such a passport would not be in compliance with the IAOC specifications, though i guess it might be okay if the MRZ was valid.
Fun fact: The MRZ doesn't encode the X, it encodes a "<" which is used for blank characters.
@simonzerafa I'm not even allowed to change planes in UAE because of this. I'll have passports from multiple countries in 2025 and they won't all say X, though.
@ryanc Hadn't considered that. Shame really. Would love to sow confusion in those patriarchal sink holes.
@ryanc That's nuts. It's time for US & EU airports to withdraw landing licenses for airlines that discriminate against passengers based on gender. Pretty sure that would change things in an instance. #GenderRights @Bundesverband @Bundesregierung
@nw @Bundesverband @Bundesregierung How many US/EU airlines allow people to book with X/U gender or offer gender neutral titles like "Mx"?
@nw @Bundesverband @Bundesregierung fortunately nobody seems to care that my passport doesn't match what's listed on the flight manifest
@aimaz ...yeah, the way I look means I really don't want to fuck around and find out with anywhere that criminalizes any form of queerness
@ryanc there are (possibly were) some situations where the government would allow you two passports to avoid issues. I think there’d be a strong argument that should be possible in this situation. Not that you should need to but it might be an option if you had to go via UAE, I’d probably go out of my way to avoid it though.
@JessTheUnstill @simonzerafa UAE specifically calls out transit not being allowed - I'd probably just be denied boarding by the airline in the first place, though.
Assuming the airline is paying attention. Also the possibility exists that a specific flight could be diverted to the UAE for various reasons, even if that's not the intended destination.
@simonzerafa @JessTheUnstill If that happened I'd probably call the embassy from the plane and refuse leave.
Hopefully a remote possiblity but Dubai is a popular transit point for longn hall flights so not impossible 🫤
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_the_Middle_East
@simonzerafa @JessTheUnstill I've mentioned elsewhere, I fly between LHR and BLR a couple times a year for work, and take a nonstop because of it. Not really much more I can do.
Don't fuck with the UAE. Don't visit, don't do a layover, don't stop there on the way somewhere else. Don't stop, don't pass go, or go directly to jail
UAE is not a safe place, and that is not something to challenge, it is dangerous
@ryanc
@saraislet extremely yes
@manawyrm @saraislet I am fully capable of making myself a diplomatic incident, so I am only "concerned" rather than terrified.
@ryanc @saraislet always a bit scared a flight somewhere in the region might divert/emergency land in UAE (or a similar country) :/
@manawyrm @saraislet My plan is to barricade myself in the lavatory and call the US embassy, the US Department of State, and the travel emergency service my employer pays for, in that order.
@ryanc @saraislet Not quite sure what I'd need to do in such a situation...
@upthorn Supposedly some country was issuing passport with E for eunuch for a while? But only F/M/X meet the international standards for passports anyway. I think I've also heard of O.
@ryanc Spent quite a while going "what's weird about switching from a blacklist to a whitelist" before realizing their blacklist included an impossible option
@ryanc @manawyrm
I worry because I think that is likely not going to be healthy and I want for you to find the places where you can effectively influence humans, regulations, policies, and laws
It doesn't help anyone if you're (electronically, physically, and socially) isolated, jailed, killed, or further traumatized.
Real talk: Trauma can incapacitate and isn't always recoverable. We like to talk about how to heal from trauma, but...it's inherently permanently damaging. We can in many cases with the requisite support recover nearly all of our functionality. Not all trauma is recoverable. And the changes from that can severely interfere with your life goals.
@saraislet @manawyrm I think the odds of a flight I'm on having to land somewhere that will be a Problem for me are quite remote. There is no sensible routing I can take to reduce the risk, my alternative is to simply not go.
As far as trauma goes... I've already had a lot. :-/
@saraislet @manawyrm It would be worthwhile to quantify the risk at least somewhat. The flights are BA 118 and 119. Anyone have access to history on those flights to see how often they've been diverted and to where?
@saraislet @manawyrm I'm also a little confused - you seem to be really concerned about me, and I don't really understand why?
@saraislet @manawyrm Did you think I was actually going to go there on purpose?
@ryanc @manawyrm I wasn't sure what was on your mind and didn't want to make assumptions in any direction
I'm concerned about you because you have a good impact on people around you and I think that's a good thing for the community
But you said it yourself:
https://infosec.exchange/@ryanc/111602633614224308
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