Nine different support groups groups are calling on general election candidates to pledge their support to non-binary rights.

Non-binary is an umbrella term for people who don’t identify entirely as simply male or female, including non-gendered people. Despite roughly 1 in every 250 people describing themselves as non-binary, there is very little legal protection for them – meaning around a quarter of a million people in the UK are being treated unfairly.

The groups – including Beyond the Binary, Mx Activist, Mx It Up, Non-Binary Scotland, Non-Binary South West, Nonbinary Inclusion Project, Non-Gendered, Practical Androgyny and UK Trans Info – are calling n candidates to:

  • support expanding the definitions in Equality Act 2010 to ensure all non-binary people are protected;
  • review the Gender Recognition Act, with a view to bringing the UK in line with the statement on Identity Recognition issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) in January; and
  • support the introduction of non gender-specific X passports, and removing the requirement for a doctors letter when changing the gender marker on a passport.

Jess Coal of UK Trans Info said: ‘There has been a lot of positive discussion recently regarding transgender people, but the rights and needs of non-binary people are often overlooked or ignored altogether. It is time for this to stop.’

Candidates can make their pledge by sending a tweet to @UKTransInfo or directly on the campaign’s website. The website also allows members of the public to see who has pledged support.