Northwestern Medicine Patients Can Identify As Gender 'X' Next Week

CHICAGO — Northwestern Medicine will begin offering a patients a third sex designation starting next week at its 11 hospitals and more than 200 outpatient locations.

In addition to the options of "M" for male and "F" for female, Northwestern's medical records will include the gender "X" for those who identify as nonbinary, intersex or transgender starting on Dec. 18, health system representatives announced.

Dr. Sumanas Jordan, the director of Northwestern Medicine gender-affirming care program, said in a statement that Northwestern's hospitals and outpatient centers affirm every patient's gender identity.

“The new medical record designation will enhance communication with patients, align with best practices and help our staff better meet the needs of the diverse population we serve,” Jordan said.

More than 200 employees from 50 departments were involved in updating Northwestern's information systems and workflows, and five experts in sexual orientation and gender identity conducted 20 live training sessions for staff, according to health system officials.

“Research has shown that people who are nonbinary often experience more discrimination than people who identify as male or female,” Jordan said. “That discrimination can cause psychological and social distress that makes them less likely to seek the healthcare services they need. If we want our patients to be proactive about their health, we must make it clear we welcome them and affirm their gender identities.”

The introduction of the "X" gender at Northwestern comes two weeks before the Secretary of State's Office is scheduled to implement it across Illinois in government records.

A 2019 law mandated the nonbinary option statewide, but it has taken nearly five years to become available. The Illinois Department of Public Health already offers the "X" marker on death certificates, and gender-neutral designations are allowed on Illinois birth certificates.

Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachutsetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington state currently offer residents the option of choosing "X" on their state identification cards without the need for any certification, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Indiana's Bureau of Motor Vehicles began offering the option for driver's licenses in 2019, but it has faced pushback from state officials reversed course in 2021. That led to a legal challenge and judge's ruling reintroducing the nonbinary option, which the state's attorney appealed in April.

Federally, the State Department started issuing passports with a third sex designation last year. In June, Congressman Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced a bill called the "Passport Sanity Act" to restrict government documents to two "sex" options. And in October, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) introduced a Senate version of the bill.

“There are two sexes — male and female — and government documents like passports should reflect that self-evident truth,” Roy said at the time. “Passports exist to accurately identify people, not play pretend with radical gender ideology. Anti-science, radical gender ideology has no place in our government, and it's time for Congress to step in and restore sanity.